No Choice In The Matter
by ihaveprobs
Summary: After the defeat of Naraku the Jewel decides that Kagome needs a better love life. So what better way of doing that then sending her to a different world without her permission and bonding her to the first cold hearted killer they see? Naru/Inu crossover.
1. My life sucks need I say more?

**YOU NEED TO READ THIS. **Now that I have your attention, I have FINALLY got a Beta Reader! (Happy Dance) So this is not and update. I am currently having her fix and repair my current chapters before chapter four. I am sorry to those who reviewed and where hoping for another chapter soon.

But please give a silent thank you to Kawaii Chibi Shun for willing to become my beta reader.

That is all.

This is my first fic, so be nice or I _will _come after you with a sharp and shiny knife. You have been warned. But advice on what I can do to improve my writing skills will get you a Red pyro Monkey! (Be careful, they bite.) Warning now, I will not, I repeat, I WILL NOT be doing any lemons. If you want those for your own sick needs, read them elsewhere. Besides that, I hope you like the story.

Summary: After the final battle with Naraku, the Jewel believes that Kagome needs a love life. So what better way then sending her to a different world and bonding her to a cold-hearted killer?

Disclaimer: Okay people, if I owned either Naruto or Inuyasha, I wouldn't be writing this fic for free, would I? (The answer is NO. I don't own them, so I'm not rich or famous.)

**Chapter One: My life sucks. Need I say more?**

This sucks. But let me make that clearer for you. When I say 'this sucks,' I mean this really, really, _really_ sucks.

Here I am, currently soaked to the bone, tied to a tree, in the middle of some weird alternate universe forest, being watched over by a man with gills and the devil himself. Who are ignoring me while discussing traveling plans and what is best to do with me.

My stomach starts to growl. The gill boy looks at me, smirks and takes a bite out of his roasted rabbit, while the devil just glares at me before going back to discussing traveling plans with his partner. Stupid aqua man wanna' be.

Yup, this really sucks. But perhaps I should start from the beginning?

This all started this morning...

-Flashback-

It had been three months since the defeat of Naraku. It was a hard battle, but everyone made it out okay in the end. Sesshomaru joined up with us about a month before and started to travel with us after all of the shards had been found. Kouga joined us two weeks before the final battle.

The most surprising appearance was Kikyo, who showed up a month before the battle. She had finally come to terms with what happened with her and Inuyasha, 

and she no longer wanted to take him to hell with her. It was hard at first, but after Inuyasha and I talked about it, we were able to push our feelings for each other to a more sibling / best friend relationship.

Miroku was facing the hordes of demons while Kouga and Ayame faced off with Kagura. Sesshomaru and Inuyasha were fighting together for once in their life. Kikyo and I were firing arrows at the demons who got to close to the demon brothers, as Shippo used his fox magic to keep the demons that got too close at bay until one of us could kill it. Meanwhile, Sango was trying to knock Kohaku unconscious without hurting him.

After a hour of fighting, Sesshomaru and Inuyasha attacked at the same time - completely obliterating Naraku's body and leaving a floating head in the air that kind of freaked me out. Naraku started to form his body back together using what was left of the horde of demons, laughing and mocking us the whole time about how we would never kill him and how he was going to kill us slowly.

"Kanna, now! While he's still regenerating!" Kagura shouted.

Naraku looked to the edge of the battlefield, and we all looked with him to see Kanna plunge a dagger into the infant's heart in her arms and twist. Pulling it out, she gave Kagura a small smile.

Naraku started to cough up blood and held out his hand. Two small red orbs appeared in it. He smirked as he smashed them before disintegrating to ash.

Everyone paused, stunned. Was it really that freakin' easy? Miroku hesitantly pulled pointed his away from everyone, and then pulled off the prayer beads. Nothing happened.

"He's dead," Miroku whispered in disbelief as he fell to his knees. He brought his hand in front of his face, and looked at the smooth center of his hand. His curse was really gone.

Suddenly an ear-to-ear smile split the monk's face. "He's dead!" Miroku shouted, jumping up. He rushed over to a still shocked Sango, hugged her, and spun her in a circle before kissing her full on the lips. Shocked for a moment, she didn't do anything, then she kissed him back for a while before she tore away from him and, ran over to Kohaku.

After that, everyone came out of their shocked states. Inuyasha, getting the idea from Miroku, ran over to Kikyo and kissed her in a rare show of public affection.

Meanwhile, Kouga was trying to pull Ayame off his arm, as she was trying to kiss him like everyone else was doing.

Shippo jumped into my arms and hugged me while laughing. I looked over to Sesshomaru, to see him looking out of place a little as for what to do, so I ran over to him and hugged him as well. He smiled down at me and placed his hand on my head.

Suddenly, I remembered about the jewel. I pulled away from Sesshomaru and raced over to the black-tinted jewel lying innocently on the ground. I carefully picked it up and purified it. When it was completely purified, I added the shards from my bottle and combined them. Now only missing three shards, the jewel laid peacefully in my hands.

I looked back over to Sesshomaru and nodded. He gave a single nod and we both walked over to where Sango, Miroku, and Kohaku were.

"Inuyasha, stop making out long enough to get over here." I got his attention.

"Yeah, Kagome?"

"Sesshomaru and I want to try something on Kohaku and Kikyo." Sango's eyes widened.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"We're going to try to bring Kohaku and Kikyo back to life without him having to use a jewel shard, or her using dead souls. I'm going to give Sesshomaru the jewel shards." Inuyasha looked like he was going to blow. "Sit. He's going to try bringing Kohaku and Kikyo back to life. But we're not sure if Tensaiga will work normally because they have been dead so long. So we're going to temporarily use the jewel shards, in hopes that they will make it more likely to work," I explained.

"Do you think that it'll work?" Sango asked.

"There's only one way to find out. We're going to try it on Kikyo first, so that, if it works, we'll know it's okay to take the jewel shard out of Kohaku." Everyone nodded, understanding.

I handed the jewel shards to Sesshomaru, and he placed them on the hilt of Tensaiga and wrapped a piece of cloth around the jewel to make sure it would stay on. He looked over at Kikyo.

"Come here and lay down." Kikyo did as she was told and, laid down in a place that wasn't covered in too much demon blood.

Sesshomaru stared down at her until you could see the glow of Tensaiga pulsing. Slowly pulling out the sword, he swiped it over Kikyo's body twice.

Nothing happened. Everyone let out the breath they were holding in disappointment. Suddenly Kikyo let out a scream. All of the souls in her started shooting out.

"Kikyo!" Inuyasha yelled as ran over to her. "What did you do?" he yelled at Sesshomaru, who looked just as shocked as his brother.

Kikyo stopped screaming once the last soul had left her. Suddenly, she started to pulse. Slowly, her pale skin started to gain more color and her breathing seemed more natural. Kikyo sat up in Inuyasha's lap and looked at her hands. "I'm alive," she whispered in disbelief. Inuyasha hugged her close to him and his eyes started to water.

"Inuyasha..." Sango hesitated, "are you crying?"

"No! It's just started raining is all! I don't cry!"

Everyone just gave him an amused look.

"What! It's rain I tell you, rain!"

"I don't see any rain clouds," Shippo pointed out with a sly look. "I think that you're crying like a baby, Inuyasha."

"Shut up, you little runt! No one asked you!"

"So what happen with Kikyo?" Sango asked.

"I think I know." Everyone turned their attention to the monk. "I believe that her soul was rejecting all of the other souls, similar to how Kagome's text book talks about blood cells attacking cells that don't belong. Or it could be that Sesshomaru just resurrected all of those souls because of the extra power of the Shikon Jewel shards. So, if we hear about women from all over coming back to life, we'll know why."

"Indeed," Sesshomaru nodded.

Inuyasha smirked and looked at Sesshomaru. "Hey Sesshomaru," Inuyasha gently pushed Kikyo off his lap and stood up. "I want you to know that even though you brought Kikyo back to life, you'll have to continue to fight me to the death to get the Tessaiga. If you can even get up the courage to face me, that is. But knowing you, you're too stubborn to give it up, so after this I'll be seeing you around." Inuyasha looked the other way with a small smirk on his face.

"What Inuyasha is trying to say is he's thankful for you bringing Kikyo back and is proud that you're his half-brother," Miroku translated for Sesshomaru.

"Hn. Thank Kagome, she's the one who thought of it," Sesshomaru stated. "And yes, I will be seeing you around, half-breed. But don't think that I need that insufficient sword; I'm having Totosai forge a blade of my own fang."

"Ahh, look, a bother bonding moment," I commented. Both brothers turned to glare at me, so I quickly hid behind Sango.

"Boy," Sesshomaru said. Kohaku nodded and laid down where Kikyo previously was. Sesshomaru nodded his approval and drew his sword. The Tensaiga pulsed a couple of times before he slashed over Kohaku's body. As everyone held their breath, out of the corner of my eye I noticed Sango grip Miroku's hand for support. Kohaku's chest started to rise and fall as color came back to his pale skin.

Sesshomaru motioned for the child to get up before he turned him around. After receiving Sango's approval, Sesshomaru pulled out his claws and made a small, quick cut at the back of Kohaku's' neck. The shard sparkled inside of Kohaku's neck, and Sesshomaru carefully pulled it out. Everyone waited to see what would happen.

Kohaku flexed his fingers in wonder. Looking up at his sister, a huge smile crept across his face as he launched at her and gave her a hug. Sango started freely weeping at her brother being alive. Miroku rubbed circles in her back in a comforting way.

Sesshomaru walked over to me and handed the jewel shard. I purified it as he unwrapped the almost complete jewel from the hilt of his sword. Handing that to me, he briefly smiled at me.

I smiled back before heading over to Kouga. Kouga saw me coming and flinched.

"Are you sure that you need this?" he asked, hopeful that I would say 'no', though he knew deep down that wouldn't be the answer.

I nodded and he sighed before smirking. "Fine, but before that my woman has to give my a kiss."

"WHAT?" Inuyasha ran over to us, Sesshomaru's eyes took a red tint.

"NO WAY is Kagome going to kiss a no-good, flea-bitten wolf like you!" Inuyasha shouted out.

"OH YEAH, DOG TURD?" Kouga challenged.

"YEAH!" The two were close to trading blows.

Sesshomaru's claws started to glow green.

"Okay," I said.

"WHAT?" Inuyasha yelled.

"Sit." _Thud._ "Ayame, you heard him, he wants a kiss." Ayame smirked before pulling Kouga's ponytail so he was off balance. Quickly Ayame kissed Kouga on the lips before he could react. "Okay Kouga, now hand over the shards."

Kouga grumbled a bit about cheaters and no good women, but he handed over the shards. I thanked him and smiled. He gave a wolfish smirk back and, with speed only a demon could have, quickly kissed me on the cheek when nobody was expecting it. Looking over my shoulder, Kouga could see the Lord of the West eyes go completely red. Kouga's own eyes went wide, before he took off at a breakneck speed. I didn't know he could run that fast without jewel shards.

Sesshomaru started to go after him, but I stopped him and managed to calm him down enough that he wouldn't kill anybody. Since he had adopted me into his pack, he had become like an extremely over protective big brother.

Once Sesshomaru and Inuyasha had calmed down, Kikyo came up to me. She smiled at me and hugged me.

"Thank you Kagome. But what are you going to do now?" Everyone turned their attention to me.

"Well, I'm not sure. Once I complete the jewel, I don't know what will happen. I could get sent back to my time, the well could stop working, or the well could still transport me back and forth through time. We won't know 'til we get back to the village so I can put the jewel back together." Everyone grew quiet at the news.

"Please guys, if I do get sent back, I want my last days with you guys to be happy. So before I complete the jewel, I want to go to my time and explain everything to my mom, then come back and have a party. Is that okay with everyone?" Everyone nodded and tried to put smiles on, well, except Inuyasha and Sesshomaru, who hardly ever smile.

We all had a laugh at the fact that, on the way back, we heard miraculous tales of women coming back from the grave, and were being hailed as higher beings in their villages.

After we arrived at the village but before my brief trip home, Kouga asked to talk to me privately, so we went into the woods while Miroku and Sango distracted Sesshomaru and Inuyasha. Kouga explained to me that he knew that I didn't love him and had decided to move on; he planned to start courting Ayame. He also told me that he would think of me as a little sister, and I would always have a place in his pack.

After telling my mother the short version of what had happened, I went back through the well, bringing everyone swimwear for a day at the lake, even Sesshomaru, Rin, Jaken, Kouga and Ayame. I took a lot of pictures of everyone having fun and had a villager take a picture of everyone together. We all had a great time. We all paired up and had four way chicken fights: Miroku with Sango, (though he kept groping her), Kouga with Ayame, Inuyasha with Kikyo, and Sesshomaru with me (which took a lot of convincing and pocky bribing).

After the fun in the water, everyone had me come back to the hut, where they each gave me a farewell gift.

Shippo gave me his tick rock with a couple of spells to make it work. Kohaku gave me a bone comb that was in the shape of a dragon getting ready to attack. Rin's gift was a pendant necklace in the shape of a small crystal rose that opened, with a red powder in it that Sesshomaru explained was actually a rare demon healing herb that if mixed with water could make a healing potion. (Sesshomaru had paid for it in a passing village when Rin pointed it out.)

Miroku gave me a small dagger, before groping my butt - causing him to get slapped by Sango and I, Rin asking what he did wrong, causing everyone to blush and him getting glared at by Sesshomaru. Sango handed me a beautiful black silk kimono with blue flames at the bottom.

Inuyasha and Kikyo gave me a new bow with a quiver. Keade gave me three rosaries, and taught me the incarnation to attach them. Kouga and Ayame gave me a bracelet made out of demon wolf fangs that put up a barrier once. They told me that they usually gave them to pups that can't defend themselves in the pack.

Sesshomaru gave me a beautiful sword that had a black blade and pure white demon bone hilt. He explained that it was his first sword, and the blade, if it accepted me, could produce black flames that can't be put out with water.

I smiled and cried, thankful for all the gifts they had given me. I looked over at Inuyasha.

"Right after I complete the jewel, I'll drop it so you can have your wish."

He shook his head. "No, I don't need that anymore. I wanted that to become full demon and be more powerful. But I'm already more powerful than any pure-blooded demon," Inuyasha smirked at the demons in the room. "That thing will probably just make me weaker. You keep it; you need it. You're so weak, one week without something for protection and you'll probably get ran over by one of those weird metal horses." I smiled at him. That was the closest thing to him saying he liked being half demon I would ever hear.

I nodded and brought the jewel shards out of the different bottles I kept them in so I wouldn't accidentally fuse them together. Looking at everyone for what may be the last time, I closed my eyes and fused them together. After a couple of seconds of hearing the fire crackle, I peeked open my eyes. I was still in the hut. Everyone blinked at the same time. It would have been hilarious if it were it not so serious a moment.

"_Sooo_," I stared trying to loosen up the mood. "Do I get to keep the gifts?" Sesshomaru smirked and everyone else laughed.

"I think you should go and check the well," Sesshomaru stated. Everyone nodded and started out the well.

At the well, everyone hugged me goodbye. We decided that, if the well let me through, I would come right back to see if it worked both ways still. I told them I would and jumped down the well.

Blue light engulfed me like always, and I felt myself free falling through time. As I gently landed back in my time, I tried to see if anything felt different. Nope, it was the same as always.

I climbed up the side of the well with a skill from years of experience and quickly made it to the top. Taking a deep breath, I jumped back down the well. Once again, the light engulfed me, and I was back 500 years in the past. I looked up to see all of my friends crowded at the top of the well.

"Kagome's back!" Shippo shouted and jumped down into my arms.

Since then, I have (surprisingly) graduated from school, so I no longer have to wear my school uniform; it was a happy day that I burned it. These days, I usually wear a comfortable pair of hip huggers and simple T-shirt with something sarcastic on it when I visit, with the necklace that Rin gave me, the wolf bracelet that Kouga and Ayame gave me, and a black buckle choker.

Sesshomaru has been teaching me how to defend myself and how to use my sword. Kikyo and Kaede both taught me how to control my miko powers; I just completed that training last week. Everyone was shocked at how quickly I picked up on their lessons, since I even restored Sesshomaru's arm. Though, while I can defend myself, I most definitely am far from all-powerful - I could hold my own against Kouga and Inuyasha when he doesn't use his sword, but Sesshomaru can still whip me in a fight any day of the week.

It's been great traveling back and forth between the feudal era and my time, now that I no longer have to look for jewel shards or cram for tests. I can finally appreciate the feudal era, when I'm not cursing it.

At the moment, I'm in my time, going to the well with a bag filled with what I'll need for the next couple of months. Jumping down the well, I remember that I've forgotten to bring Shippo and Kohaku's candy. Sighing to myself, I decide that I'll go back and get them. As my feet touch the ground, I think about everything that's happened since Naraku died.

Kouga has finished courting Ayame, and they have a pup on the way. And two weeks after Naraku's defeat Sango and Miroku, and Kikyo and Inuyasha had a double wedding. Now Sango is pregnant and has a craving for - would you believe it? - shrimp ramen noodles. Inuyasha isn't too happy about it, but doesn't dare say 'no' when she takes his food. Kikyo seems a little depressed that she is the only one married and without any children due. I can't see why she would want to go through what Sango is, though.

She wakes at all hours of the night to puke her guts out, then she starts to dry heave because there is no food in her stomach. She's always in pain, she has major mood swings, and she can't stop eating. Miroku's scared most of the time because if he even passes a woman that walks by she pummels him. It's almost funny.

Sesshomaru has stopped coming over so much, because every time Rin sees Sango she asks him where babies come from. The look on Sessy's face is priceless. It also seems that Sesshomaru is courting an Inu-demoness that he has fallen for from the northern lands.

Kohaku and Shippo even have a little best friend / rival thing going on. They both fight about who's going to marry Rin someday. But of course they only do this out loud when Sesshomaru isn't there. They're not stupid.

It seems that I'm the only one without a love life at the moment. Heck! Even Kaede is seeing the Monk Mushi!

I don't feel right being there with all of the lovebirds. And they keep on trying to get me to start seeing some of the village men. My friends in the future finally gave up on trying to get me hooked up with Houjo. Thank goodness. Yuka is now dating him. But now they're setting me up with blind dates. My love life _sucks_.

As I continued to climb high enough that the well would work if I jumped back down, a bright glow suddenly began to form around my neck. I look down at the Shikon jewel. It was shining and gently lifting off my chest.

"No! NO! Don't you dare do something weird, you stupid piece of glass!" As if to spite me, the well started to glow a soft red. "No! Not you, too!" I cried out in dismay. Soon, I landed softly on slightly damp ground.

A raindrop landed on my nose.

"Oh look, rain." I looked up and saw rain clouds cover the sky. "Crap."

I started to climb out of the well using the vines on the side. As I reached the top, I looked over the edge to see if there were any demons or whatever dangerous things this place were around. Seeing the coast was clear I pulled myself out of the well, but tripped when I slipped on the wet side. Luckily, I landed on the ground instead of falling back into the well.

Looking around, I tried to figure out where the heck I was. All I saw were trees.

"Okay, now that you've showed me this lovely view, I think I should get back to where I'm suppose to be. So I'll be going now." I looked down at the Jewel.

_No._

I froze. Looking down at the Jewel, I hesitated. "Jewel?" I asked out loud.

_Yes._

Crap. Now I've started talking to a piece of glass that has magical powers. I've finally lost it.

"What do you mean 'no'? I want to go home. And I'll be darned if some stupid marble is going to stop me." I walked to the well and got ready to jump in.

_Don't do it_, the Shikon Jewel warned.

"Watch me." I jumped.

And landed on a very hard pink barrier.

"You put a bloody BARRIER on the well. You take it OFF right NOW! You hear me? RIGHT NOW!" I demanded. I climbed out of the well to try to jump through again.

_Make me_, the Jewel replied, almost snobbishly.

"That's IT! I've had it with you!" And my rant begins.

"FIRST," I lift up my finger. "You make me fall down a well that brings me FIVE HUNDRED YEARS into the past. You bring back a naked demon to life just so that he can RIP YOU FROM MY BODY, and that left a _very_ nasty scar that _still_ hurts when I poke it!

But that wasn't ENOUGH for you, WAS IT? NO!

You had to go and SHATTER INTO A MILLION PIECES when I try to save you from being stolen by something that tried eating you.

The you make me spend three years, THREE bloody and gory YEARS being kidnapped, impailed, shot at, and almost being made into some PSYCHOPATHIC midget's wife! While trying to stop some world-hating half-demon with a superiority complex from finishing you first to rule the world! Just like in some CRAPPY VIDEO GAME!

All the while, getting compared to my cold-hearted, prettier, better at everything I do incarnation! And this, THIS is the thanks I get? You send me to some unknown place without indoor plumbing! Then, when I try to get home, you put a BARRIER ON THE WELL!

That's it! I've HAD IT! I REFUSE to be your guardian any more; you can SHATTER into A MILLION PIECES again for all I care! GO and bother SOMEONE ELSE's life, because you screwed up MINE enough! You want to be here? YOU stay, but LET ME GO HOME!"

I tried to pull the jewel off from around my neck, but it wouldn't budge. "Get OFF, you stupid Jewel! I DON'T WANT YOU!"

_Tough luck. You have a job to do here._

I paused a moment. The calm before the storm.

"What the heck do you mean I 'have a job to do here', YOU SADISIC MARBLE! I don't WANT it! Give it to some other poor loser who karma doesn't like, but LEAVE ME OUT OF IT." I tried pulling the necklace off with the same result.

"Would you please stop screeching?" a calm voice questioned from behind me. I immediately stiffened.

Slowly, I turned around to see two men standing a few yards away. The first one, the one who had spoken, was wearing a cloak that covered all of his body except his head. He was wearing some type of medal bandanna on his forehead. He was fairly tall; he had black hair in a ponytail that disappeared into his cloak and red eyes that looked like they could slowly burn a hole right through someone. But his face was very good-looking, and, if he ever went to high school, he would have hordes of fans both male and female. He had an air about him that screamed 'top dog'.

The guy next to him had the same cloak and bandanna thing going on. But as I looked at him, I noticed that he only looked slightly human. Strapped to his back was a sword that was giving off funky vibes. He had blue hair, blue skin, blue gills, blue _everything_. Except his eyes, I noted. His eyes were all white with black pupils; there was no noticeable pupil color.

I let out my miko powers to see if the blue man was a demon. I blinked; he was one forth shark demon. I looked back to the first guy, and felt that he had demon blood also, but it was so worn down that it was barely there - likely under ten percent. It seemed to manifest mainly through his eyes, from what I could tell.

"Um, who are you?" I asked bluntly.

"…"

"Okay, I'm sorry if my screaming bothered you. I know it must have hurt your enhanced hearing," I said, before turning around and studying the barrier at the bottom of the well.

"Who were you talking to?" The blue man demanded.

My shoulders slumped. They were still there. Turning back around, I beamed a smile at them. "To myself, of course."

They didn't look amused. Gill boy stepped forward and placed a hand on the hilt of his sword. "Answer the question truthfully, girl. Where are your comrades?"

I blinked at him. "You don't seem to get it do you? I have _finally_ cracked under the pressure. I was talking to my stupid piece of junk marble."

The jewel glowed a dark purple color, and shocked me.

_(Snickers)_

"Ow! Stupid piece of _Junk_!" I pulled out the dagger that Miroku had given me. I noticed that both men tensed, but I ignored them in favor of trying to scratch the jewel or cut it off my neck. Every time I cut the chain, the Jewel would glow light pink and fix it the instant the knife was through. After a minute of this, the Jewel glowed dark purple again, and shocked me for a second time. Hard.

As I was gasping for breath, I could have sworn that the Jewel was laugh at me, but then I looked up and saw that it was gill boy.

"Shut up. Let's see you have a evil necklace attack you!" I shouted at him.

"Ha! You couldn't lay a finger on me, wench," gill boy mocked.

"That's the last straw!" I let my backpack slip to the ground. Diving into one of the many pouches, I found what I was looking for, one of my rosaries. I picked out the blue one, because I thought it would just be fitting.

Bringing my hands into place, I wrapped the beads around my fingers. Both men looked ready to attack. I started the incarnation, and both men looked slightly confused. The beads glowed yellow, before taking off and attaching themselves around a running gill boy's neck. He stopped when they were firmly around his neck, and tried to pull them off.

"Shock!" I shouted, and the necklace glowed blue before it began to shock him for a couple of seconds.

Next thing I know, I'm on my back with my arms twisted behind my back and a kneecap on my spine. A very uncomfortable position.

"Remove the Jutsu," the man demanded.

"Jutsu? What the crap is a Jutsu?" I asked, confused.

The grip on my arm tightened. "Don't play dumb with me, girl," the man demanded.

"I really don't know what the crap your talking about. That was a level one spell, moron." Then I mumbled under my breath thinking he wouldn't hear. "Jeez, with your demon blood, I would think that you would at least know what I did."

The man on top of me froze. "What did you say?" He flipped me over, so he could see my face.

"Nothing of importance," I said. I looked pass him to his traveling companion. He looked ready kill me with his glare alone. "Shock," I said again, and again he 'enjoyed' his new shock collar. "It won't kill him. It'll only shock him for a few seconds. Now will you please kindly get off before you collapse my lungs?"

The man only glared at me. "Answer the question, girl," the man stated now that he knew the other man was not in serious danger.

"What question?" I asked innocently.

"What did you say about demon blood?"

"Oh, you didn't know. I probable shouldn't have told you, then. Well the cat's out of the bag now, so might as well tell you, so you don't kill me," I said, just then noticing the nice little blade he had next to my throat. "You have a very small amount of demon blood, focused in your eyes, and your friend over there, shock, is one forth demon. Meaning one of his parents was a half-breed. Okay, now that I've told you what you want to know, can you get off?"

He glared at me. "How do you know this, wench?" he asked coldly.

What is it with everyone calling me a bloody wench? I glared back at him, with a glare that would have made Sesshy proud.

"Get. Off. Now." I growled.

"Answer the question, wench."

I snapped. Gathering my miko energy into my palm, I shot him in the gut, throwing him through two trees.

"My name is KAGOME! KA-GO-ME! Not girl, WENCH, woman, or any other names you STUPID males come up with! Now, leave me alone!" I hollered. Snapping back to the well, I kicked, it cursing it for bringing me here.

Gill boy came up behind me, and got ready to plunge his sword through my gut. "SHOCK!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. Gill boy proceeded to be shocked until he was just a twitching blue form that had static popping up every once and a while in the mud. Turning back around, I wasn't expecting to come face to face with the man who I had just recently shot through two trees. And did I mention that he looked _really _ticked off? I don't remember anything after that.

-End of really, really long flashback-

It was starting to get dark and I was wet, tired, and hungry. So, in other words, I was ticked.

"Shark boy!" The blue man turned and glared at me. His hair was slightly singed at the ends. I smirked. I liked my new favorite word.

"Feed me, unless you want to become a crispy fish stick," I demanded. He glared at me.

"Take it off." He demanded.

I gave him an odd look. "Do I look stupid to you? Wait, don't answer that. But that's my safety. I say one word and you get zapped. It's not so funny when you're the one wearing a evil necklace, now, is it?" I smirked at him. He looked about ready to kill me.

"Take it off, wench!" he shouted.

I glared at him. "SHOCK! My name is Kagome! Ka-Go-Me! Do I have to spell it out for you!"

Gill boy recovered from the shock, and got ready to launch at me. I got ready to say the word again.

"Kisame. Cease this foolishness." I looked at the man I had dubbed devil. He was glaring at both of us. Is that all this man did, glare? Jeez, he needs to lighten up.

"Gir-" he started.

"Kagome."

He appeared in not two feet away from me. "I will call you what I see fit," he growled.

"Fine then, I'm going to start calling you pin-wheel."

His glare intensified. "Do not push me, girl," he warned.

"What do you want, pin-wheel? There must be some reason that I am currently tied to a tree in the middle of a rainstorm. Tell me what you want. So I can get out of here. You out of my life makes me happy, and me out of your lives would make both of you happy, especially fish stick over there, so what do you say?"

"Fine. I'll ask questions; you answer. Got it?" he asked, though it sounded more like you don't get any say in the matter when he asked questions.

"Fine, but I ask questions afterwards. Then it'll be a fair trade," I stated.

"Agreed," he accepted. "Who are you?" was his first question.

"Kagome Higurashi."

"What are you?"

"Human."

"What type of chakara do you use?"

"What's chakara?"

He looked shocked at the answer. He probably wouldn't have believed me if my voice didn't hold actual confusion.

"Your power source," he explained.

"I'm a miko, if that's what you mean."

"What is a miko?"

"Shrine maiden, priestess, but what we do is purify demons, heal the sick and wounded, and give advise when asked."

He gave a nod of understanding. "Where are you from?"

"Tokyo, Japan."

"Where is it?"

"Far, far away."

His eyes squinted at that but accepted it. "I am done, you may ask your questions."

I nodded my head. "Who are you?"

"Itachi Uchiha."

"Who's sparky?"

"Kisame Hoshigaki"

"What are you guys?"

"Ninja."

"Very funny, now really, what are you?"

The man, now known as Itachi, narrowed his eyes.

"Ninja." I was shocked. I actually ran into two ninja.

"Where's my bag?"

He motioned with his head towards my bag at the edge of the camp.

"Which direction is the well you found me by?"

He pointed left of him.

"Oh, okay." I said. I gathered my miko energy into my finger and quickly shot it at my ropes. They were cut, and I pushed the remaining rope off. I stood up and stretched my sore muscles. I would definitely be stiff for a while from staying out in the rain all night.

"Oh, and one more question. Where the heck am I?"

"Fire country."

"Weird name, you would think people could come up with something more original. Okay, that's all I needed to know." I walked over to my bag and slid it onto my shoulders. Seeing my dagger and sword on the ground next to it, I repositioned them where they were supposed to be. Turning to the direction Itachi pointed, I started to walk away.

"Bye pin-wheel, bye fish stick. You can keep the necklace to remember me by." I lifted a hand as my farewell and started out of the camp.

"Where do you think you're going?" Itachi questioned, suddenly appearing before me.

I pointed the direction he had pointed earlier. "That way." I started walking again.

It was silent for a moment, before I felt someone pick me up and roughly throw me over their shoulder. I look up to see the back of Itachi's head.

"Hey! What's the big idea? Put me down!" I demanded, beating on his back with each word. He ignored me. "We had a deal! We ask each other questions, I go free! It was a very easy plan to follow!"

"We've had a change of plans."

"Kisame, clear up camp and catch up to me. We're going back to the base."

I looked over to where fish stick was and saw him smirk. "Looks like you're coming with us, princess," he mocked.

I gave a smirk of my own. "Shock. Shock. Shock." I started smiling when I saw him start twitching. If I keep it up at this pace, then Kisame will have a permanent eye twitch in no time!

I suddenly remembered that I was being kidnapped when I saw a tree pass by me. "Hey! I never agreed to go with you! Put me down!" I started to beat at the man's back again. "Let me go! Let me go, or else you'll regret it!" I warned. He stopped and placed me on my feet. "Thank yo-" he placed his hand on a pressure point, quickly knocking me out cold.

_End Chapter._

Okay, that was the first chapter.

If you like, then review. If you don't, then get the heck out. No one is forcing you to read this fic. But anyone who is willing to give advice, feel free to give it. If you are polite about it, I will be polite back. Thanks for your time.

I will try and update once a week, but I can't promise anything.

-Probs.


	2. the girl who screamed at a marble

Okay people, I would like to thank all those who reviewed

Okay people, I would like to thank all those who reviewed. I hope I was able to answer your questions for those who had them. And for anyone who has any questions about the story, just ask me, and I will try and clear things up for you. I know I said I would update once a week, but you all sent me nice reviews, so I thought I would be nice and give this to you early. So I hope you all enjoy it.

And this chapter was beta'ed by my extremely talented beta reader Kawaii Chibi Shun. She if freakin' awesome and deserves an around of applause for having to put up with my ridiculously long chapters.

This chapter will be in Itachi's POV. I don't believe I will do any more chapters with just one persons POV after this. It will switch back and forth between people's POV's after this chapter.

Disclaimer: No, I don't own Naruto OR Inuyasha, no matter how badly I want to.

Chapter Two: The girl who screamed at a marble

Itachi P.O.V.

We were coming back from a successful mission when it started to sprinkle rain. Sighing mentally, I continued on. I just wanted to get back to the base and sleep for at least a day. Kisame was talking about how easy the last mission was, and I was tuning him out with years of experience.

Why couldn't I have been paired with one of the less noisy members? Why must Kisame insist on talking about pointless things? What did I do to deserve this punishment? Nothing I could have done deserves this. Really.

When Kisame started to complain about his feet, I stopped walking. "We will rest here for a while before moving on," I told him.

I walked over to a tree and sat down. Resting my head against the bark, I closed my eyes. My eyes have been slowly loosing their sight. Every time I have to use them my vision gets worse. Not that I would tell anyone, but it scares me. I will either have to find a way to heal my eyes soon or I'll go blind.

I was snapped from my musing when I felt an extremely large amount of power. Listening closely to hear any attackers, I heard someone murmuring; then, it got quiet. Suddenly, I heard a 'thump' like someone had tripped.

I heard someone, sounded like a female, start talking about the view. Standing up to see who it was, I followed the noise into the trees. Walking into a clearing, I noticed a girl with her back turned towards me. She was about a foot shorter than I was, with slightly blue-tinted black hair that reached her mid-back. She was wearing tan cargo pants and a black top. Besides a sword at her hip, she didn't look to be carrying any weapons in plain view.

I paid attention to what she was saying when I heard her say, "Watch me!" and she jumped down the well that she was standing by. Seeing a pink light come from the well, I wait to see what would happen.

"You put a bloody BARRIER on the WELL! You TAKE IT OFF right now! You hear me? RIGHT NOW!" I hear her scream from inside the well. Her head popped over the edge of the well as she climbed out. I waited for her to notice me but she went back to yelling at her invisible companion.

"That's IT! I've had it with you!" she exclaimed. I look around for who she was talking to, but saw no one. Checking for chakara, I found that we were the only ones in the clearing, unless her companion was concealing their chakara.

"FIRST," she lifted one of her fingers. "You make me fall down a well that brings me FIVE HUNDRED YEARS into the past. You bring back a naked demon to life just so that he can RIP YOU FROM MY BODY, and that left a _very_ nasty scar that _still_ hurts when I poke it!

But that wasn't ENOUGH for you, WAS IT? NO!

You had to go and SHATTER INTO A MILLION PIECES when I try to save you from being stolen by something that tried eating you.

Then you make me spend three years, THREE bloody and gory YEARS being kidnapped, impailed, shot at, and almost being made into some PSYCHOPATHIC midget's wife! While trying to stop some world-hating half-demon with a superiority complex from finishing you first to rule the world! Just like in some CRAPPY VIDEO GAME!

All the while, getting compared to my cold-hearted, prettier, better at everything I do incarnation! And this, THIS is the thanks I get? You send me to some unknown place without indoor plumbing! Then, when I try to get home, you put a BARRIER ON THE WELL!

That's it! I've HAD IT! I REFUSE to be your guardian any more; you can SHATTER into A MILLION PIECES again for all I care! GO and bother SOMEONE ELSE's life, because you screwed up MINE enough! You want to be here? YOU stay, but LET ME GO HOME!"

She tried to pull a necklace from her neck, only to have it flash each time and stay on. "Get OFF, you stupid Jewel! I DON'T WANT YOU!" she shouted at the top of her lungs.

She paused for a minute, as if listening to someone talk. Then she started screaming again. "What the heck do you mean I 'have a job to do here', YOU SADISIC MARBLE! I don't WANT it! Give it to some other poor loser who karma doesn't like, but LEAVE ME OUT OF IT." She tried pulling the necklace off again without any results.

Having been ignored long enough I decided to get her attention. "Would you please stop screeching?" I stated more than asked.

Her form instantly froze. Slowly, she turned to face us. She looked me over first, before dismissing me and turning to her attention to Kisame. She didn't look as shocked as most are when she first saw him. She blinked once. I felt what could be explained as a slight static charge in the air for a minute before her face took a look of understanding. Then, she turned to me as if coming to some decision.

"Um, who are you?" she asked us. Neither of us answered. I was waiting for her to make a move. While she may not be after us, she could pose a threat, she was carrying a sword and the way she held herself showed she knew how to use it on some level.

"Okay, I'm sorry if my screaming bothered you. I know it must have hurt your enhanced hearing," she said before she dismissed us both, turning her attention back to the well.

I stood in shock for a moment. No one had ever dismissed me in such a way. Especially not a female. For some reason, it ticked me off.

"Who were you talking to?" my partner demanded.

Her shoulders slumped. Turning around, she smiled brightly at us. I didn't like that smile; it seemed too forced.

"To myself, of course," she replied.

I keep staring at her. For all I knew, she could truly be insane. There wasn't anyone else in the clearing I could sense. And for some reason, I felt uneasy around this woman. Not the uneasy 'someone will attack you the second your back is turned', but the unease of being stuck in a closet with a crazy person who has just been given a bag of raw sugar.

Kisame stepped forward, grabbing the hilt of his sword. "Answer the question truthfully, girl. Where are your comrades?" he demanded.

She blinked once. "You don't seem to get it do you?" she stated, looking at him like an idiot. "I have _finally_ cracked under the pressure. I was talking to my stupid piece of junk marble." I'm starting to lean to the 'her being insane' side.

Suddenly, the round pink jewel she was wearing glowed a deep purple and shocked her. I raised my brow. Maybe she was telling the truth about her talking to her jewel, and not in the insane way.

"Ow! Stupid piece of _Junk_!" she exclaimed, before pulling out a dagger from her cargo pocket. She made a sound of triumph. Kisame and I got ready, in case she decided to attack. Instead, she completely ignored us in favor of trying to cut the jewel from her necklace. But each time she tried, the necklace, glowing a soft pink, would fix itself before she could pull it off.

Suddenly, the jewel glowed deep purple again and shocked her. Only this time, it lasted for almost twenty seconds before it stopped. She clutched the side of the well for support. I turn my head when I hear Kisame laughing his head off.

"Shut up. Let's see you have an evil necklace attack you!" the girl snapped at Kisame.

"Ha! You couldn't lay a finger on me, wench," Kisame mocked the girl.

The girl seemed to tense, and her face started to turn red, before she exploded at him. "That's the last straw!" She dropped her backpack and seemed to disappear into it. She apparently found what she was looking for when she gave a shout of triumph.

Pulling out a blue beaded necklace with fangs every so often, she wrapped it around her fingers before bringing her hands together. Her feet were shoulder width apart, as if ready for an attack.

Expecting an attack, I put my hand to my kunai pouch. I was taken off guard when instead of doing a jutsu she started chanting. Once again, I felt the static charge in the air.

The beads lifted off her fingers and went flying towards Kisame. He tried to dodge them, but they followed him until they were all firmly attached around his neck. Kisame stopped running and tried pulling the beads off, but had the same result as the girl did earlier.

"Shock!" the small girl shouted. The beads glowed a deep blue for a second before Kisame was being electrocuted.

Immediately, I pinned the girl to the ground, holding her arms with my kneecap in her back. "Remove the Jutsu," I demanded.

"Jutsu? What the crap is a Jutsu?" she asked, sounding confused and angry.

I tightened my grip on her arm. "Don't play dumb with me, girl," I warned her.

"I really don't know what the crap you're talking about. That was a level one spell, moron." I narrowed my eyes. "Jeez, with your demon blood, I would think that you would at least know what I did," she mumbled, thinking I wouldn't hear.

I stiffened. How would she know about the demon blood running in the Uchiha clan? It was a well-kept secret that only selective members of the clan knew.

"What did you say?" I demanded coldly, as I turned her over and placed a kunai to her throat.

Finally getting a good look at the girl, the first thing I noticed was the girl's amazing blue eyes. She had a nice straight nose, and full pink lips. Overall, she was very pretty. Oddly, she was wearing a black shirt that had a list that said 'My Many Moods; angry, mad, suspiciously pleased."

"Nothing of importance," she said. She looked past me to see an enraged Kisame. "Shock." As soon as she said it, Kisame was again being electrocuted. "It won't kill him. It'll only shock him for a few seconds," she explained. "Now will you please kindly get off before you collapse my lungs?" I glared at her. She still hadn't answered my question.

"Answer the question, girl." Now that I knew Kisame wasn't in danger, I could fully focus on the girl in front of me.

"What question?" she asked, trying to look innocent.

"What did you say about demon blood?"

"Oh, you didn't know. I probable shouldn't have told you then," she said, as if I wasn't there. Shrugging, she looked back at me. "Well, the cat's out of the bag now, so might as well tell you so you don't kill me." Smart girl.

"You have a very small amount of demon blood, focused in your eyes, and your friend over there, shock, is one forth demon. Meaning one of his parents was a half-breed. Okay, now that I've told you what you want to know, can you get off?" she asked while trying to free her hands.

"How do you know this wench?" I demanded.

She glared coldly at me. I could feel her rage through her tense muscles. "Get. Off. Now." She grounded out.

"Answer the question, wench." I looked down at the last second to see her shoot a beam of light pink at my chest from her captured hands.

All of the air was knocked out of my lungs the second the beam hit me. Flying though the air, I hit the first tree and heard it snap at the force of my body hitting it. Expecting to stop, I was taken by surprise when I went through another tree to roughly hit the third and stop. I could feel that at least two of my ribs were broken. But I guess I'm lucky nothing else broke with the force she threw me.

The young woman started screaming at me. "My name is KAGOME! KA-GO-ME! Not girl, WENCH, woman, or any other names you STUPID males come up with! Now, leave me alone!" Once she finished screaming at me, she turned back to the well and kicked it.

_She threw me through two trees because I didn't call her by her name?_ I thought angrily. She dared to constantly dismiss me as a threat in favor of giving a stupid dried-up well her attention! I don't know why this made me so mad, but it did.

I got up and appeared behind her. She was going to pay for dismissing me like that!

She finished electrocuting Kisame and turned around to come face to face with me. She looked shocked that I was there, and, before she could do anything else, I quickly knocked her out by hitting the back of her neck. I let her fall to the ground before checking on Kisame. Though the girl claimed that the necklace couldn't kill him, it appeared that it _could_ knock him unconscious.

Sighing, I picked the girl up. I went to pick up her bag, and almost toppled over form the unexpected weight. How could such a small girl carry that heavy of a bag? Was it even possible? Shrugging it off, I brought her and her bag back to where Kisame and I were resting earlier. Dropping her on the ground, I turned around and went to fetch Kisame.

Kisame became a slight problem. I couldn't touch him without being electrocuted as well since he had so much electrical buildup. Sighing, I decided to just kick him it the head to wake him up. It worked.

"What the crap was THAT for, Itachi?" he hollered.

"You let a girl defeat you with a single word. You're pathetic," I stated before turning back around, heading back to where I left the girl.

"Hey, Itachi, where's the girl?" Kisame asked after he caught up with me.

"Over there. I knocked her out easily."

"Don't act like she didn't do any damage to you either. I saw her shoot you through those trees. What the crap was that, anyway? It wasn't any type of chakara I've every seen before."

I thought it over. He was right. That wasn't normal chakara. But it didn't feel like a demon vessel's chakara either. In fact, it felt like the exact opposite.

"We will question her about it when she awakes," I decided. "Come on. We have a lot of ground to cover before nightfall, and we've wasted enough time here."

When I saw Kisame throw the girl over his shoulder, I turned around and started walking the way we were before the break. Hearing a Kisame let out a sound of surprise, I knew he had found the bag, and mentally smirked.

**A couple of hours later:**

"Let's break camp here." I left no room for argument, though I doubt Kisame would complain about stopping.

"_Why_ do I have to carry the girl _and_ her bag?" Kisame complained. "The girl is light, but I think her bag weighs at least twice as much as my sword!"

"If that girl could carry it, you should be fully capable of carrying it for a couple of hours," I taunted him knowing full well that the thing weighed a ton.

"Yeah, well let's see you carry it! What does she carry in here, bricks?!" Kisame exclaimed as he dropped the bag to the ground.

"Hn. We will find out; tie the girl over there." I pointed to one of the trees at the edge of the clearing.

While Kisame was tying the girl up, I decided that this would be a good time to go through her bag to check for anything that might give us clues to her strange chakara.

Picking up the bag, I carried it over to the middle of the camp, making it look light just to tick Kisame off. Opening the bag, the first thing I noticed was instant ramen. A _lot_ of ramen. Pulling it all out, I looked at what else was in the bag.

Seeing a lot of shirts and pants and other clothing, I concluded that she was planning on staying _somewhere_ for a while. Setting those on the ground, I continued to look for anything that would give us information about the strange girl. Pulling out different things, I could find almost nothing out of the ordinary that you wouldn't find in the bag of someone going on a camping trip.

But I did find some strange items. She had some pieces of paper that had strange symbols on them. Two more of the strange necklaces that she had placed on Kisame. Enough first aid to supply an army. A small black book, which had a lock on it. A couple of scrolls that I couldn't open. A photo album, which I simply set aside without looking at. A strange small glass and metal box that was only two centimeters thick and had some type of earphones that was attached to it. A sketching pad and pencils that I decided to look at later. A dog-training book with dog treats. Coloring books. Then, the most surprising thing, weights. Yes, weights; she had at least sixty pounds of weights at the bottom of her bag.

Kisame, who had been going through the stuff with me, started to twitch when I pulled out the weights. He jumped up and pointed a finger at the bag.

"She had bloody WEIGHTS in there! What the crap?!" Kisame cried. "What type of PSYCHO wench carries WEIGHTS in her bag?!"

I smirked at Kisame's misfortune. The girl's bag may have very well weighed twice as much as Kisame's sword with all that was in there and the weights.

Placing the girl's things back in her bag, I left out two cups of ramen. Might as well take advantage of the food here. Preparing the instant noodles, I thought over everything we knew about the girl. I had decided to take her with us after I felt the strange chakara coming from her. She may be of some use to the Akastuki, since she seemed to be able to sense demon blood. Looking over at the girl tied to a tree, I stood and walked over to her to check her over for weapons.

Crouching down to where I could see eye to eye with her if she was awake, I studied her face. While she was quite pretty, she still had a face that had to finish maturing before she could be beautiful. She would be very beautiful when she was mature, though. Looking her over I take note that while she does have muscle, she wasn't a ninja.

Taking her sword from its sheathe to examine her blade, I saw that while you could tell the blade had clearly been used, it had been taken extremely good care of. I tried to decipher what it was made of. The hilt was made of some sort of bone, but the blade was a mystery.

Placing the blade aside, I checked to see what her pockets held. Pulling out the dagger she had used earlier to try and cut her necklace off, I saw that it was just a plain dagger whose blade was made of the same type of bone the hilt of her sword was. I checked the sturdiness of the blade by comparing it to one of my kunai. If it came to which blade was better, the girl's dagger would win without trouble.

Placing the girl's dagger by her sword, I continued my search. She had some gum in her pocket, with a list of first names and a small rock shaped kind of like a person, with a blank piece of paper wrapped around it. Seeing the objects harmless, I returned them back to her pocket, before checking her other pockets to find nothing else.

Looking at her necklaces, I checked the one that looked like a rose first. Seeing that it had a clasp, I opened it to find a bright red powder. Dismissing it, I closed it back up and looked at her choker. It was nothing special. Looking at the last necklace, the one she had been talking to, I felt a strange power coming from it, but it wasn't chakara. Frowning, I reached over to touch it. I quick pulled my hand back when it glowed a light blue, and a beam of light and shot into my arm.

I watched as my whole body glowed a light blue for a second, before the light shot back into the jewel. It felt as if the jewel was checking to see if I was a threat, but then dismissed me and went back into a dormant state. It left me with an uneasy feeling.

Checking the rest of her, I noticed that she had a bracelet that gave off a chakara much like that of a demon vessel. Storing all this knowledge, I ended my search. Picking up her sword and dagger, I placed them by her bag, and sat down to eat my now ready ramen.

Looking over at the girl, I estimated that she should be knocked out until morning. I looked over at Kisame. He was just glaring at the girl.

"Kisame. You take first watch, and don't kill the girl." Kisame looked put out. He probably would very much like to kill the girl. Knowing that he wouldn't until we got our answers out of her, I went to sleep.

**The next morning:**

"Hey, Itachi." It had been raining all night, and I wasn't in the mood to talk much. The worst part was, it was still raining.

"Hn."

"So, what are we going to do with the girl?"

"After we question her we'll decide what would be the best move. Her energy felt like the exact opposite as a demon vessel's. If she can be of any help to the Akatsuki, then we'll take her to Leader."

Kisame finished cooking the rabbit he had caught earlier, and handed me a piece. I took it, and gave a nod of thanks. He nodded back.

"Yeah, but what if she can't be of any use to the Akatsuki? Then what?" Kisame inquired.

"We kill her. She could leak information about our whereabouts."

Kisame grinned at the news. He really didn't like the girl. But I'm not that fond of her either. Having an electrical collar on and being thrown through two trees for not calling her by her name could make people not like her.

I heard the girl stirring, and looked over at her. She was soaked to the bone, and would probable catch a cold from having no protection from the rain all night. Starting to open her eyes, she rested her head against the bark of the tree, trying to get the crick out of her neck. I turned my attention back to the conversation. After discussing what would be the best route back to base, Kisame and I heard the girl's stomach growl.

We both turned and looked at her. Kisame smirked and took a bite out of his roasted rabbit, obviously enjoying her hunger pain. We went back to discussing traveling for a minute until the girl made her presence better known.

"Shark boy!" We turned to look at her again. She smirked at Kisame. "Feed me, unless you want to become a crispy fish stick," she threatened. Kisame glared at her.

"Take it off," he demanded.

She gave a look that said he was a moron, which I had to agree with. "Do I look stupid to you? Wait, don't answer that. But that's my safety," she said slowly, as if talking to a small child who didn't understand. "I say one word, and you get zapped. It's not so funny when you're the one wearing a evil necklace, now is it?" She smirked at him, getting him back for his comment yesterday.

Kisame clenched his fist. "Take it off, wench!" he shouted.

She glared coldly at him. "SHOCK! My name is Kagome! Ka-Go-Me! Do I have to spell it out for you?!" she demanded.

Kisame was electrocuted for a couple of seconds. He grabbed the hilt of his sword, and got ready to kill the girl.

"Kisame, cease this foolishness," I demanded of him. He looked ready to protest, but I shot him down with my glare.

"Gir-" I started.

"Kagome," she interrupted.

I jumped in front of her. "I will call you what I see fit," I growled. What was it with this girl that could get under my skin so easily?

"Fine then, I'm going to start calling you pin-wheel."

My eye twitched. 'Pin-wheel?' She was making fun of my eyes. The same eyes that many would kill for, she was insulting. I tried to burn a hole through her with my glare alone.

"Do not push me, girl," I warned.

"What do you want, pin-wheel?" Again with the insult. "There must be some reason that I am currently tied to a tree in the middle of a rainstorm. Tell me what you want, so I can get out of here. You out of my life makes me happy, and me out of your lives would make both of you happy, especially fish stick over there. So, what do you say?" she said.

"Fine," I agreed. I set my eyes so I could tell if she lied to me. "I'll ask questions; you answer. Got it?" I left no room for argument.

"Fine, but I asked questions afterwards. Then it'll be a fair trade," she bargained. It didn't matter to me; if she was of no use to the Akatsuki, then she would be killed; if she was of any use, then she would gain the information anyway.

"Agreed." I accepted and started the questioning. "Who are you?"

"Kagome Higurashi," was her instant reply.

"What are you?"

"Human." Strange answer.

"What type of chakara do you use?"

"What's chakara?" she asked. I checked her for lies but found none. She should at least know what chakara was. Even civilians know what it is.

"Your power source," I explained.

"I'm a miko, if that's what you mean."

"What is a miko?" I had never heard of one.

"Shrine maiden, priestess, but what we do is purify demons, heal the sick and wounded and give advise when asked." I smirked mentally at my find when I heard 'purify demons'. Yes, she would be of use to the Akatsuki.

"Where are you from?"

"Tokyo, Japan."

"Where is it?"

"Far, far away." She was dodging the question, but I would let it go for now. I would get all the answers I needed later tonight.

"I am done, you may ask your questions."

She nodded. "Who are you?" she asked the standard first question.

"Itachi Uchiha." I waited for her to show a reaction. She should know the name. It made grown men quiver in fear. She showed no recognition at the name.

"Who's sparky?" she asked directing, her gaze to Kisame.

"Kisame Hoshigaki."

"What are you guys?"

"Ninja."

"Very funny, now really, what are you?" she asked, smiling like it was some type of joke. She didn't believe we were ninja? Come to think of it, she didn't know a lot of things that were common knowledge around here. Perhaps she was a foreigner?

"Ninja," I answered again. She looked at me with shock clearly written on her face.

"Where's my bag?" She changed the subject. I motioned with my head to where her bag was.

"Which direction is the well you found me by?" I pointed my finger to the direction we found her at.

"Oh, okay," she said. She gathered that pink energy to one of her fingers and shot it at the ropes. The ropes were cut through like hot butter, and she pushed the rest off herself, before standing up and stretching.

"Oh, and one more question. Where the heck am I?" she questioned.

She didn't even know what country she was at? "Fire country," I answered her.

"Weird name, you would think people could come up with something more original. Okay, that's all I needed to know." She walked over to her bag and gathered up her stuff. Putting her weapons back in place, she got her bag. When the bag was fully settled on her back, (I couldn't believe that she picked it up with such ease, for a girl her size) she started off in the direction I had pointed just seconds ago.

"Bye pin-wheel, bye fish stick. You can keep the necklace to remember me by." She lifted a hand as her dismissal but didn't turn around to face us as she left.

I stood up and appeared in front of the girl. "Where do you think your going?" It was a rhetorical question but she answered anyway.

Pointing in the direction I had pointed earlier she said, "That way," and started walking again.

I smirked at her smart-allelic response. It was refreshing to have a woman not fall to the ground and worship the ground I walk upon, once I started to get used to it.

I let her get a couple more steps in before I swept her over my shoulder, and turned back to camp. She was quiet for a second while her mind processed what had just happened.

"Hey! What's the big idea? Put me down!" she demanded. I decided to ignore her. "We had a deal! We ask each other questions, I go free! It was a very easy plan to follow!" she exclaimed, screaming at me.

"We've had a change of plans," I informed her. "Kisame, clear up camp, and catch up to me. We're going back to the base."

"Looks like you're coming with us, princess," Kisame mocked the girl.

"Shock. Shock. Shock." I could feel her amusement rolling off her as she watched Kisame become a virtual lighting rod.

She turned her attention back to me.

"Hey! I never agreed to go with you! Put me down!" she started to beat my back. It didn't even hurt which showed me she wasn't really a fighter.

"Let me go! Let me go, or else you'll regret it!" She had a warning tone in her voice. I stopped and set her on her feet. "Thank yo-" she started before I once again knocked her out.

I caught her before she fell this time, and pulled her bag off her shoulders. As I picked her back up, I noticed how light she was.

"Kisame, grab her bag and let's go."

"What! Why don't you carry the bag?" he demanded.

I wasn't stupid. "You have better endurance than me. I would slow down faster than you, and it would take longer to get back to base. We still have two more days before we arrive." He grumbled about it, but picked it up anyway.

"Can't we just leave it here?" he begged.

"No. Leader might want to see its contents. Think of it as endurance training." Not completely a lie, but the real reason was that the girl might be more willing to cooperate if she has her belongings, though we would have to take away all of her weapons before she awoke.

Grumbling about psychopathic women and weights, Kisame started trailing after me. It would be an interesting two days.

**End chapter**

Yo, this is the end of the second chapter. I hoped you all liked it. Once again, polite criticism is greatly appreciated, but plain-out flamers will be shot twice. Once in the leg, and then once in the head. Have a nice day, and please leave a review of what you think before you leave. And feel free to ask any questions about the story; I will get back to you if I find the time.

-Probs


	3. A bored Kag is a dangerous Kag

To beta:

Chapter Three

Okay, this chapter has now been betaed.

I would like to give a nice thank you for all my reviewers! And I want to thank my beta reader **kawaiichibishun.**

Now the rest of the chapters should follow this writing style. So I hope none of you get confused.

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto and Inuyasha I would be able to get a better laptop. But sadly, since I don't own them I'm stuck on my mom's computer until I have enough money for a new laptop.

"normal talk"

"_the jewel talking"_

'defined thoughts or talking in one's head'

**Chapter Three: A bored Kagome is a dangerous Kagome**

General P.O.V.

When Kagome woke up, the rain had finally stopped two hours before, and Itachi and Kisame had been walking for five hours in all. They had already long since removed the weapons from her person.

Kagome felt groggy as she woke up. 'What happened?' The last thing she remembered was yelling at some cloaked dude…

"He knocked me out again!" Kagome yelled, outraged, pounding her fists into Itachi's back when her mind clicked the pieces together.

Kisame and Itachi jumped when Kagome suddenly and unexpectedly yelled, slamming her fist down.

Kagome then noticed that she was looking at the ground. And the ground was moving. 'Oh look, a rock. There goes another rock... oh, there was a grass patch. Why is the ground moving?' Looking up, she saw the back of Itachi's head.

"Hey, pin-wheel. Why are you carrying me?" Kagome asked the first thing that came to mind. "Pin-wheel" ignored her.

Propping herself on her elbows, Kagome took a good look around the passing scenery. They were still in the forest, but their surroundings at the moment were not as thick as the forest that she last remembered being in. Finishing her observation, she turned her attention to Kisame.

"Hey, fish-stick." Kisame glared at her. Ignoring the glare, she asked her question. "When's lunch?" Kisame almost tripped over a rock at her unexpected question.

"Watch your step; there was a rock there." Her warning came too late. Kisame glared harder at her, and started to reach for the sword strapped to his back.

"You know, you and pin-wheel here are almost as good at glaring as Sesshy," Kagome commented. "You guys need to loosen up a little, you know that? Your face will get stuck like that if you keep it up for much longer. You can ask Sesshy; his face is stuck the same way almost all day." Kisame resisted the urge to strangle the girl. "Oh! We've never been formally introduced!" Kagome realized. Holding out her hand she stated, "Hi, my name is Kagome Higurashi. You can just call me Kagome. Nothing less and nothing more."

Kisame was shocked at the gesture, but he held his hand out nonetheless. "Kisame Hoshigaki. Just call me Kisame." He shook her hand. Most girls didn't want to be in the same room as him, let alone be willing to touch him.

"Well it's nice to meet you, Kisame. Now would you mind going in my bag and pulling out a chocolate chip energy bar for me?" she asked politely. Not seeing the harm in it, Kisame shrugged and took the bag off his back. "It should be in the left bottom pouch," she told him. Opening the pouch, he found a couple of the bars and got one out for her. "Feel free to have one as well; you can have any flavor you like." Taking one out for himself, he handed her the one she had requested. "Thanks." He nodded his head.

"Sure." Kisame opened his and took a bite.

Looking over her shoulder, Kagome looked at the back of Itachi's head. "Hey, pin-wheel." She felt him briefly stiffen at the nickname. She smirked; it was easy to get under his skin. "Would you like one?" she inquired.

"Hn," was his unhelpful response.

"So was that a yes, or no?" Kagome asked. He ignored her. "You know, you really need to work on your people skills." Kisame smirked; maybe this girl wasn't so bad after all.

"Hn." Itachi went back to ignoring her.

"Fine then, you don't get one." Kagome turned her attention back to Kisame. At least he talked. "So Kisame, where are we going?"

"Were taking you back to base so Leader can see you. You could be of some use," Kisame said. "If not we'll probably end up killing you." He shrugged.

"Oh," was all Kagome could say. She was once again being kidnapped, and had the hand of death above her again. Well, not to worry, she was now a professional at that. She would just wait for the right moment to distract her captors and get back to the well. But how to get the Jewel to let her get back was a whole other story. Until then, she would get to know Kisame better, so she wouldn't be bored. That and she might learn something useful for getting away.

"_So_," Kagome drawled out. "How long till we get there?"

"Two days." This came from Itachi.

"Wow, we must be pretty far from here, then. How long have I been asleep?"

"A couple of hours, but if you're thinking about escaping, then forget it. You have no idea where you are, and we're not going to tell you," Itachi informed her.

"Oh, okay. Well, how about we play a game to pass the time?" Kagome asked. Kisame just looked at her oddly. Wasn't she supposed to be screaming her head off, like when Itachi first flung her over his shoulder? Isn't she supposed to be plotting her escape, instead of playing games and getting to know her captors better? Deciding that he should ask her, he did.

"Would you prefer it if I started screaming like a banshee?" He told her no. "Would me yelling do any good except for getting me knocked out again?" No again. "And shouldn't I at least try and entertain myself for what could very well be the last two days of my life?" Kagome finished with that question.

Kisame thought it over; it made more sense than being depressed and wasting your last two days. Shrugging, Kisame agreed to play a game.

"What do you want to play?" he asked.

Kagome thought it over for a minute. She knew just the game that she might be able to get information from him with. "How about we take turns asking each other questions - but you can't pause for a long time to answer or ask; sound good to you?"

"Sure. You can go first;" Kisame said. He could see that Itachi was now paying attention.

"Okay, first question, what's with the tacky matching cloaks?" Kagome asked, staring at the cloaks.

"They show that were members of the Akatsuki. My turn, how old are you?"

"Eighteen. How long have you been ninja?"

"Since I was eleven. Where are you from?"

"Tokyo, Japan. If you've never heard of it, well, that's not my problem. Where are you from?"

"The Village Hidden in the Mist. Do you have family?"

"Yes, I have a little brother named Souta, my mother, and my grandfather. We all live at Sunset Shrine. What's with the weird aura coming off your sword?"

"It's one of the seven Swords of the Mist. What's an aura?" Kisame was curious.

"An aura is the power that a certain object or person gives off. As long as something has power stored in it or a person is alive, they will give off an aura." Kagome explained. "Now what's this chakra thing?"

"Chakra is the fuel that your body uses to do physical work or a jutsu," Kisame explained.

Itachi, who had been listening the whole time, decided to ask a question of his own. "Why were you yelling at your necklace?"

Kagome looked back at him in shock. She had forgotten that he was there. Suddenly, she smiled. "Yea, pin-wheel's joining in," she said, knowing it would change the subject. She didn't want to tell too much about herself, except for what wouldn't do any harm.

"You will stop calling me that blasted nickname," Itachi demanded; his eyebrow ticked. Kagome looked at the ground, and noticed that his toenails were painted a light purple.

Kagome smirked. "Whatever you say, pretty-boy."

Itachi was getting angry; what was it with her and her blasted nicknames? He was an Uchiha, and deserved some respect!

"Girl," he warned.

"Kagome."

"Don't push me, girl."

"Use my name, and I'll use yours."

Itachi noticed that his question still wasn't answered. The girl had managed to distract him for a moment. "Answer the question," he demanded.

Kagome tried to think up something that he might believe. "I'm mentally unstable?" she guessed, not sounding so sure of herself. It had almost worked with the other ninjas, might as well try it with them.

"Hn. That jewel electrocuted you when you insulted it and when you tried to take it off. What is it?" he demanded.

"Apparently, the sadistic marble has set out to ruin my life. Now, that was two questions, so I get to ask you that many as well; then, it's Kisame's turn. Your first question, do you have any family?"

"One little brother."

"Okay, second question, are you gay?" Kisame started to choke on the last bite of the energy bar that Kagome had given him, and Itachi tripped, causing Kagome and him to go tumbling into a limb-tied mess.

As Itachi and Kagome started to roll, he somehow wound up on top of her and their lips slammed together. They both stayed there, too shocked to move. That was, until Kagome realized that he had just stolen her first kiss. The time she had kiss Inuyasha didn't count, because that was just to stop him from turning full demon, and he didn't even know he was being kissed. So that didn't count. It took her a year to make herself believe that that one didn't count, and then here he goes and trips, causing them to kiss.

Kagome's face turned red from anger and embarrassment. She quickly shoved Itachi off her with amazing strength. And shot up.

"That was my FIRST kiss, you jerk! I was SAVING that!" Kagome screamed at him. Itachi stood up from where he landed a couple feet away, and glared at her.

Who cares if it was her first kiss? She just accused him of being gay! Itachi Uchiha was _not_ gay! Itachi Uchiha had women beg to even spend five _minutes_ in his presence, and she accused him of being gay?!

Kisame, who had finished choking in time to see their position before they came to their senses, was laughing his head off.

Kagome had a sudden idea. Walking up to Itachi she stopped in front of him.

"Listen Itachi, I think that we may have started off on the wrong foot, so how about we start fresh? Hmm, what do you say?" He looked extremely suspicious. "Here, to show my sincerity, I'll give you this luck charm that a close friend of mine gave to me." Kagome held out a closed fist. Hesitantly, he lifted his hand. She dropped the small rock into his hand. He turned it over to look at it better. It was the small rock that was shaped like a person that was in her pocket earlier. The second that both hands were touching it Kagome slapped the seal onto it.

The rock instantly transformed into a rock that weighed a ton, and Itachi slammed to the ground. Shock was written all over his face at the trick.

Immediately, Kagome turned to Kisame, who was laughing his head off at Itachi being tricked so easily. Sort of feeling bad for it, Kagome let out a chain of shock commands until Kisame was rendered unconscious. Rushing over to him, Kagome pulled off her bag and puts it on her own back.

"WENCH! You will take this _thing_ off me RIGHT NOW!" Itachi had lost all control. He was _ticked_.

"My name's Kagome. Not wench. Learn it, _use_ it, **love** it. I'm leaving now, and if I ever see your ugly face again it'll be too soon." Kagome waved good-bye and turned around. "Oh, and tell Kisame I'm sorry about all the shock commands. I just can't have him coming after me. Somehow, I don't think he would let me just walk off. Bye now!" With that, Kagome took off to try and find a way back to the well.

(A/N: I thought about ending the chapter here but decided it was to short.)

With Kagome

Kagome sighed. She had no idea where she was. After talking to a passing traveler, she was now sure that this was an alternate universe. She had asked the stranger if she could take a look at his map, and he had let her. Lucky for her, it was a map of the whole continent. Not so lucky, it looked nothing like any of the continents in her world. They were shaped completely differently.

She had thanked the traveler and went on her way. She only had very loose information of where the well was. It was somewhere in Fire Country. She had made note of the directions to the edge of Fire Country closest to her, so she had somewhat of a sense of direction to head to. As for how she would find the well itself among all the forests that covered the edge of Fire Country ... well, she would figure that out when she got there.

Maybe she could convince the Jewel to help her find the well? Probable not, but it was worth a try.

Noticing a puddle on the ground, she remembered that she was still in her soaked clothes. Stepping off the road and into the forest, Kagome found a large tree to change behind. Putting her bag down, she opened it and pulled out a new change of clothes. 'At least the Jewel sent me to this world when I was fully prepared,' Kagome thought, trying to find some good in the situation.

Slipping into a denim skirt that had cargo pockets on the sides and a white shirt with red lettering that read "I used to have super-human powers ... but my therapist took them away", she pulled on her extra pair of _dry _tennis shoes so she would be more comfortable for walking. Kagome then placed her weapons, which she had found in her bag, where she could easily get to them if need be.

Getting back on the road after her quick change into dry clothes, Kagome decided to try and talk to the Jewel.

She felt _so_ stupid doing this. "Hey, Jewel." No answer.

She tried again. "Hey, stupid Jewel that gets its kicks from my misfortune," Kagome said.

"_You called?" _the Jewel answered.

"How do I get back to the well?" Kagome questioned.

"_Why should I help you?" _the Jewel questioned. _"I want to be here."_

Kagome's eye ticked. She spent three years putting this sadistic marble together, and not only does it try to force her to give up more years of her life doing some job here, but it constantly backtalks her. "Fine, I'll leave you here and you let me go home, or at least to the feudal era," Kagome bargained.

"_No, I like you, you're funny when you trip; you'll have to stay here with me,"_ the Jewel said. _"Besides, you still have a job to do here. Do you think that I would send you here for no reason besides my wish for a change of scenery?"_

"Yes," Kagome answered without hesitating.

"_You're cold, you know that? You're really cold."_

"And you are a talking marble that caused my life to fall to ruin."

"_Do you really think that? If it wasn't for me, you would have never met any of your friends,"_ the Jewel pointed out.

It had a point. If the Jewel hadn't done all it had, she would have never of met any of her friends. But then again, a lot of them wouldn't have had some of their misfortunes befall them. Sango would still have her village, Kouga's tribe wouldn't have had the devastating blow that it did, Shippo's father wouldn't have been killed for his jewel shard, and many other people wouldn't have suffered.

"_True, but the demon slayer's village still could have been attacked, regardless of Naraku trying to gain the shard, at the hands of other demons who held a grudge against them. Kouga's tribe would still have been at war with the Birds of Paradise, still losing lives - and Kouga's tribe would still be feasting upon the blood of humans. The kit's father could had still been killed by the thunder demons for his pelt; many foxes are hunted for them, and then the kit wouldn't have had anyone to watch out for him – he would have been killed within a week. And many more people would have still lost their lives due to all the wars. I simply sped up the inevitable, and brought some people together in the process. If it wasn't for that, Naraku would have never been killed, and your friend the monk would had been sucked into his cursed hand; he would never have lived long enough to see that son of his who's on the way,"_ the Jewel explained to Kagome.

"Sango's having a boy! Oh, I can wait to tell her!"

"_You missed the whole point of what I just told you, didn't you?"_

"No, you have a point, but why _me_?" Kagome whined.

"_Why not? You have a large soul that can keep you alive even with half of it gone; not many people could do that. You have a natural talent that's let you make friends of opponents easily, instead of having to kill them. And you're not judgmental... okay, not __**too**__ judgmental. And you provide hours of entertainment. Kikyo was __**so **__boring! All she ever did was pray, sleep, heal people, eat like a bird, pray some more, fight demons, eat some more, and then sleep. It was the same thing __**every day**__! It was like she was a robot or something." _The Jewel's complaints echoed loudly in Kagome's mind.

Kagome stopped walking. "What can I call you?"

"_Hm? What do you mean?"_

"Well, I can't just go on calling you 'Jewel', so what do you want to be called?"

The Jewel thought it over for a minute. _"Bob."_

Kagome sweat-dropped. The Jewel wanted to be named 'Bob'? Could you get any more original? "Bob?" Kagome asked.

"_Yes, Bob is a nice name. It's simple, I like it,"_ the Jewel explained.

"Wait a minute. I thought that you were supposed to be Midoriko and some other demons' souls?" Kagome questioned.

"_I was, but you broke and fixed me so many times that my souls became one, and it came out with me."_

"Oh... well, I guess that makes some kind of sense. Well, Bob, if you're not going to let me go home, what is my job here?" Kagome questioned.

"_I'm still working on it,"_ the Jewel answered.

Kagome's eye twitched. Bob really was trying to make her life miserable. There wasn't even really a reason for her to be here!

"You mean that you don't know the reason we're here?" Kagome tapped her foot.

"_Of course __**I**__ know why we're here," _Bob stated.

"Would you please tell me that reason?" Kagome was trying very hard not to loose her temper.

"_Nope."_

Kagome lost it.

"What do you MEAN 'nope'?! Now, you are going to TAKE ME BACK to the well, and you're going to REMOVE THE BARRIER and LET ME GET BACK HOME this instant!" Kagome demanded of Bob, while shaking the jewel from its place around her neck.

"_No. I don't want to." _Bob's reply sounded like a spoiled little child. _"Besides, you're going to be very busy in just a moment."_ Bob said like it didn't matter.

Kagome was about to yell at the Jewel some more, when five men suddenly dropped form the trees above. They were all wearing black, and had the same metal bandana-thing going on as Itachi and Kisame, except theirs all were matching, with a musical note on their metal plate.

"Um, hi?" Kagome asked, not to sure how to respond.

One of the men, most likely the leader, stepped forward. "I'll make it simple for you. Give us your money and we won't kill you slowly," he stated.

'Wasn't it supposed to be 'give us your money and we **won't** kill you?' Not 'we won't kill you _slowly_'?'

"Umm, I don't really have any currency that will work here. I'm from a different country," Kagome explained. The leader didn't look too happy about the news.

"Then we'll check your bag after we kill you."

"But isn't it bad luck to kill an insane person?" Kagome asked.

"What?" the leader asked. 'What the crap was the woman talking about?'

"Didn't you see me having a conversation with myself just a moment ago? I'm clearly insane and it's said that, if you kill an insane person, you'll become insane too," Kagome told them.

"I don't believe that. Besides, you don't look insane," the leader informed her.

"Ah, but it's not the outside that tells you if a person is insane. It's the inside of their head that's messed up. And last I checked, someone talking to themselves is a clear sign of insanity. Clearly, I was talking to myself just a moment ago until you so rudely interrupted my _lovely_ conversation with Bob," Kagome remarked.

The leader looked confused. Then his face set into a line of determination. "I don't care if you're insane or not. Kill her and take her bag," the leader commanded two of the other ninja.

Two of the ninja immediately came at Kagome with kunai, so Kagome instantly put up a barrier. The two ninjas slammed headfirst into her barrier before they could stop.

Kagome winced; that had to of hurt. As the two stood up and wobbled around for a second, the others stood in shock.

"Hey, are you two okay?" Kagome inquired.

The leader tensed; was she making fun of them? "Everyone, kill her."

All of the others snapped out of their daze and attacked. Kagome was attacked on all sides, but to no avail. Her barrier stood firm. The leader called off their attack when he saw it doing nothing. He threw a kunai at her barrier, and saw her slightly tense. He smirked. Making shadow clones of himself, he told the rest to do the same.

"Wow! How'd you do that?!" Kagome's jaw almost dropped to the ground. All these people just multiplied.

"Everyone, attack her at once and her barrier should collapse." Everyone waited for the signal to attack.

'Uh-Oh,' Kagome thought. 'This could be bad.' Kagome went into a fighting stance. Once her barrier broke, she would have to fight them off by hand. She just hoped that they didn't have any more tricks like this one up their sleeves.

The leader gave his signal, and they all attacked. The moment Kagome's barrier collapsed, she pulled out her sword. She used some of her power to throw enough of them away from her that she could focus on incapacitating or outright killing some of them. She noticed that at least three of them disappeared in a puff of smoke when her power touched them.

She didn't have much time to ponder on it, because she had to block some strange star knives. Seeing them bury themselves deep into the tree behind her, she knew it would be bad if one of those hit her.

Sweat-dropping, she wondered what she did in her past life that deserved this. Oh, wait; she was Kikyo. Well that explained a _lot_.

When Kagome kicked one of them in the head, it disappeared in another puff of smoke. Grinning, she made her power flare briefly, then drew it back in. All of the people disappeared, except or the original five. She also noticed that all of these people had a small drop of demon blood in them. Hardly noticeable, but it was still there. Now, this number she could take.

Kagome charged them with her katana drawn. She quickly jumped over one of them, and stabbed him in the back. As he fell to the ground, another attacked her from behind. Pulling some of her miko power into her hands, she blasted the man back, before gutting him while he was on the ground.

Two more charged at her while doing something with their hands. Kagome wasn't expecting the fireballs that shot from their hands after they called out an attack. Jumping back, Kagome noticed that the edge of her skirt was on fire. Eyes widening, she tried to pat the fire out. The two attackers took the chance, and attacked her.

When she noticed the attackers, it was too late to put up a barrier. Kagome tensed, and waited for her head to be removed from her shoulders. She heard a whistling sound come from behind her, and two kunai were plunged deep into her attackers' necks, sending them flying back 'til they hit the ground, dead the instant the kunai went into their necks.

Kagome looked at the dead men. "Well that was lucky," she said out loud. "Wonder where those came from?"

"WENCH!!" Now, who did she know here who sounded like that? That yell sounded like something she had heard before. If she could only place a face and name with it...

"You're going to PAY for that TRICKERY!" the voice huffed.

Kagome slammed her fist onto her flat palm. 'Pin-wheel! That's whose voice it was.'

Kagome turned around to see a very ticked off looking Kisame and Itachi. 'Oh. Crap. This could be bad. Very, very bad.'

Beaming a smile at them, she decided it might be a good idea to try and talk her way out of this one. "Oh, hey guys! How have you been?"

The last ninja who had tried to attack the girl decided that it might be a good time to get out of there. If she was friends with Itachi Uchiha, he knew he didn't stand a chance. Teleporting as far as he could, he took off at a dead run back to base.

With Itachi

Itachi's eye twitched. She had left him under a rock that he couldn't lift no matter how hard he tried, and a passing traveler, when asked to remove the sealing spell, had taken off running screaming about how a ninja was going to kill him.

So he had to wait five hours, FIVE HOURS, for Kisame to wake up and remove the spell. But instead of doing it immediately, he stood there laughing his head off at Itachi's predicament and making fun of him. He had even gone so far as to take a picture of it with their camera, which was supposed to be for mission proposes only. And so Itachi couldn't destroy the camera because it still contained the film from their last stakeout. Finally, after threatening Kisame that he would use the Tsukiyomi on him otherwise, his partner removed the spell.

Then came the long and annoying job of tracking the girl down. He couldn't believe that she had made it so far within so few hours without the help of chakra in her legs. Perhaps she used her miko chi in the same way that they used their chakra?

They were getting surprisingly close to the area they had found her.

Finally, they heard fighting and went to check to see if it her.

It was.

She had already taken down two of the ninja before they had arrived. Just seeing her there made his blood boil. He could tell that Kisame was remembering all the shock commands that she had given him before she left and was ticked as well.

As they watched, two more of the other ninjas attacked her with a fire jutsu. She easily jumped out of the way from it. He took note that she didn't use and chakra to power her jump; it was pure muscle. Then she took notice that her skirt was on fire. Completely dropping the fight, she tried to put the fire out. The ninjas took advantage of her distraction to launch another attack.

Seeing them about to kill her, Itachi jumped in and threw two kunai straight into their throats. If anyone was going to kill her, it would be **him**. Yes, he was going to enjoy killing her in the most _long_ and _painful_ way he could think of. First, he would torture her with his Tsukiyomi until she begged for death, and then he would torture her in real life. He would make it last for days, until he would stab her in the gut for an even more slow and agonizing death. He would watch as the life drained from her eyes. Then he would laugh, and leave her corpse for the birds. Yes, that sounded like a good idea.

"Well that was lucky," she said. "Wonder where those came from?"

Itachi has never been as mad as he was ... Right. At. This. Moment. "WENCH!!" he yelled. Oh yes, she would suffer; he would make sure of it. She seemed to be lost in thought. Now she was ignoring him yet again!

"You're going to PAY for that TRICKERY!" he yelled at her.

She slammed her fist to her hand. She had just remembered who they were. She turned around with the biggest fake smile he'd ever seen, and Itachi could feel the fear and nervousness rolling off her in waves. Good. She knew what was coming.

"Oh, hey guys! How have you been?" she tried to play it off.

He glared at her. Almost as if she could feel him trying to burn a whole through her, she started to sweat.

Kisame looked about ready to rip her to shreds and eat the pieces. Itachi held out his hand to stop him, giving him a look that said "I will take care of her". It took a moment, but he nodded his head, saying that he would stay out of it.

Pulling out a kunai he threw it at her; it pinned her by her sleeve, right by her neck, to the tree right behind her. Her neck started to trickle a small line of blood where the kunai had _just_ scraped her, as her eyes widened to the size of saucers. Itachi could almost smell her fear in the air, and enjoyed every second of it.

"Um, perhaps we could work something out?" she asked in a panic. "You could not kill me, and I… um… I… what would it take for you _not_ to kill me?" she asked in haste.

Itachi smirked sadistically. "I'm going to enjoy this," he stated before taking a step forward. Her eyes widened again. She started to tug at the kunai pinning her to the tree, like an animal in a trap, but the kunai was in to deep for her to remove it with just one hand.

When he was perhaps five feet from her, she grinned as though remembering something. She threw out her hand as a pink bubble surrounded her.

"Ha! Beat that pin-wheel! You can't get pass my barrier!" she exclaimed. She pulled at her lower eyelid, and stuck out her tongue and blew a raspberry. 'Pin-wheel' decided that he would remove that tongue for her.

Itachi narrowed his eyes. What other tricks did she have up her sleeve? Looking over at the two ninja she had killed, his eyes widen ever so slightly. They were from the Village Hidden in the Sound. They were extremely hard to kill, compared to normal ninja. He could kill them easily, of course, but she wasn't a ninja; that much was clear from carrying her for five hours. She had muscle, but not in the same places a ninja would. How powerful was she? She couldn't be all _that_ powerful considering how easily he had taken her out. Her defenses were horrible and she was easily distracted.

"Wench, why were these ninjas attacking you?" Itachi demanded.

"Oh, those were more ninjas?" she asked curiously.

He resisted the urge to try and walk through her barrier and strangle her. Answers were needed first. "Answer the question, wench." Her previous fear and nervousness disappeared, and was instead replaced with rage.

Her eyebrow twitched. "My name is **NOT** 'wench'! Why is it _any_ human, demon, child, and even ghost can **never** get my name right?! Is my name hard to remember? **NO!** It's three **simple** syllables! **KA-GO-ME!!** Use it!" she finished her yelling tantrum huffing.

Itachi stopped listening to her after she said 'demon'. He narrowed his eyes. She actual _knew_ demons? How would that be possible? There was only nine that he knew of for sure, and she was too young to have known any demon personally except the wild ones. But that didn't make sense. Those demons couldn't talk. _Could_ they?

"Girl," Itachi started.

"My NAME is KAGOME!"

"If I agree to call you by name, will you answer _any_ questions I ask you truthfully?" Itachi questioned, glaring at her.

Kagome narrowed her eyes, wondering what he would ask. But she _really_ hated it when someone called her a wench, like he seemed on intent on calling her. "If you agree to call me by my name from now on, I'll answer any _two_ questions you ask. But _only_ two. Do you agree to the terms?"

Itachi thought it over. It was better than nothing, and he could always force more answers out of her later. Yes, he was still going to make her suffer. No one made a fool out of Itachi Uchiha and got away without a scratch.

"How do I know that you'll keep your end of the bargain?" Itachi wanted to be safe.

"I give you my word as a miko that I will answer any question you ask truthfully. BUT... you also have to give me your word as whatever it is that you are that you'll start addressing me by my name," Kagome demanded.

"Agreed." Itachi said.

"Will you attack me if I drop this barrier?" Kagome asked. He didn't answer. "I won't answer your questions if you attack me," she warned.

Itachi gave a short nod that he wouldn't attack her, and the barrier dropped. After his questions were answered... now, that was another matter.

**End Chapter.**

So how was that, people? Tell me what you think. I would really like to know if people are liking this fic or if I should improve on things. Another thing, am I keeping them in character? If you could tell me it would be **MUCH** appreciated. Please review. I don't know what I need to fix to get this a better fic if you don't tell me.

-Probs


	4. Questions that you shouldn't answer

**Okay, People. First of all I would Like to thank you for all the Wonderful reviews you left. I really wasn't expecting it! XD Please keep it up!**

**Sorry if this chapter is a little bit late but I asked my beta reader to work on past chapters before this one so its my fault.**

**My chapter was beta read by kawaiichibishun. So that thanks goes to her.**

**Disclaimer. No I don't own these two mangas. I only own what difficult situations I put them in! B)**

**Please enjoy.**

**Chapter Four: Questions You Shouldn't Answer**

Kagome slowly let down the barrier, making sure that Itachi wouldn't suddenly attack her and ready to have it back up at the slightest hostile movement. She looked over at the kunai buried halfway to the hilt in the tree. She tried tugging at it again, but it wouldn't budge. Sighing, she looked over at Kisame.

"Hey, Kisame? Would you mind removing this for me?" Kisame glared at her, remembering all the shock commands she had given him.

Kagome realized what he was thinking, and sighed. "Look, I'm really sorry about all of the 'S' word commands. But I couldn't have you come after me. Like you said, if I'm not useful, I'm dead. I _really_ don't like the thought of dying anytime soon. Especially since I just completed something that took a long time and over a hundred near death experiences to complete. So it would _really_ suck if I died because I wasn't useful for something I have no control over," Kagome apologized.

Kisame looked over at Itachi to see what he should do. Itachi gave a small nod, so Kisame walked up to Kagome, and, with one hand, effortlessly pulled the kunai out.

"You couldn't pull this out by yourself? What a weak girl," Kisame mocked.

"Yeah, well, not all of us have youkai blood running in our veins," Kagome snapped back.

Kagome looked at the sun, and saw that it was getting late. Sighing, she looked over at Itachi. "Hey, what do you say we just camp together for the night, and you can ask your questions over dinner?" Kagome asked, sounding tired.

Thinking it over, he nodded. It would soon be dark, and they needed to find a good place for camp. And he and Kisame wouldn't have to hunt for dinner, giving them more energy for the next day. Besides, the girl would be camping with them whether she liked it or not.

Kagome smiled slightly. Looking over at the dead bodies, she decided something. Walking over to them, she started to search them.

"Hey, Kagome?" Kisame got her attention.

"Yeah?"

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Something I learned from a dear monk friend of mine. They're dead, so they won't need their money. And if we don't take it, someone passing by will. Might as well take what I might need later on," Kagome said as she found what she was looking for. Pulling out the man's money pouch, she went to the next guy. This continued until she reached the last one. Looking at his weapon pouch, she decided to take it and try to learn to use the throwing knives that everyone here seemed to use. Attaching the weapon pouch, she looked at Itachi, and threw him two of the money pouches. "Those are from the men you killed so they're yours," She told him after he caught them. He nodded, and slipped them into a pocket on the inside of his cloak.

Walking away from the site, they traveled in silence until Kagome stopped them. "There is a clearing over there," Kagome stated, and started walking into the deeper part of the forest. Itachi looked suspicious as to why she knew this, while Kisame just shrugged it off.

Glimpsing Itachi from the corner of her eye, she smiled. "My friends and I traveled a lot, so I'm really good at spotting good camping grounds," Kagome explained. He seemed to ease slightly, but was still tense. He had learned the hard way that this girl could be tricky.

Just like Kagome had said, they came out of the thick trees and into a nice clearing a little ways from a river. They said nothing as Kagome dropped her bag and pulled out what she would need. Noticing that they didn't seem to have any camping supplies, she decided to ask about it.

"Where're your camping supplies?" she asked.

Kisame shrugged. "Don't need them," he replied.

"What do you guys do, sleep against a tree?" Kagome asked, not really paying attention as she was on autopilot setting up camp. Three years of almost nothing but camping could do that to you.

"Yeah, usually." Kisame replied, shrugging it off. Kagome bit her bottom lip. There was a cold breeze in the air tonight. And while Inuyasha would be fine sleeping like that, he was half demon. These people weren't. True, they might have demon blood in them, and Itachi could probable scare away any chilly air that tried to get him sick, but they were still, for the most part, human. Therefore, they were more prone to get sick if they didn't get proper protection from the cold. She would never get any sleep knowing that she was warm while they were cold. Digging through her bag, Kagome pulled out her spare blankets.

"Here." Kagome awkwardly held the blankets out to the two men, who just looked at her. "Would you please just use these if it gets cold tonight? I would never get any sleep knowing that you guys were cold while I was warm." Kagome blushed.

Itachi watched as the strange girl stood there holding out the blankets to them. Why would she care if they were cold or not? They had left her out in the rain tied to a tree just yesterday.

Kagome fidgeted under Itachi's gaze. Did she do something wrong?

After a few more moments, Itachi reached over and took one of the offered blankets. Giving her a small thanks, he sat by a tree and placed the still folded blanket in his lap. Kagome smiled at him, and Kisame took the other offered blanket, also saying his thanks. She smiled at him, too, and stood up.

"Could one of you please go and gather some fire wood?" Kagome asked politely. Kisame said he would, and walked off into the forest.

Kagome looked at the sun in the sky and saw that they maybe had an hour of sunlight left. "I had better go and get some water," Kagome told Itachi, and he nodded. She walked over to her bag and fished around for the water bottles. Pulling out four of them, she headed to the river to fetch the water, one for each person and another for the instant ramen.

Itachi watched her leave, and thought about the questions he would ask her. She was very strange. Recalling over everything he knew of her, he tried to think of what questions would give him the most important answers. One of the questions was obviously how she knew demons. The second question ... he would decide after she answered the first. It could, after all, lead to something else that could be important information.

Kagome arrived back at camp from the river. She had the four bottles of water in her arms, and handed one to Itachi as she walked by. She started to gather large rocks, and set them up in a circle in the middle of camp. Then, picking up the driest twigs she could, she placed them in a pile in the middle of the circle.

Sighing, she went back to her bag, and pulled out a pair of pajamas. Looking over at Itachi, she pointed to some trees in the opposite direction as Kisame had gone. He nodded his head in understanding, and she went and changed into her pajamas behind some large trees.

She walked back into the clearing with her clothes under one arm. He looked over her pajamas. The black tank top had a cartoon cat with a small dog on a lease that said 'I don't bite, but my dog does'. Her pants were loose-legged, and had the same picture as the shirt printed all over them.

Kisame came back with the fire wood right after Kagome had rolled out her sleeping bag. His arms were full with enough firewood to last the night. He dropped the firewood a little ways from the fire pit.

Kagome walked over, and set up the firewood. She took out her lighter, and tried to start the wood on fire, but the wood was just too wet. Sighing, Kagome prepared for nasty cold ramen since the fire wouldn't start.

Itachi saw her try to start the fire without success. Mentally sighing, he placed the blanket on the ground and stood up. Walking over to the fire pit, he saw Kagome look at him curiously. He motioned for her to stand back. After she was far enough back that she wouldn't get burnt, he nodded to her that she could stop. Doing the proper hand signals, he performed a small fireball jutsu.

Kagome about jumped out of her skin when fire erupted from Itachi's mouth. The fire caught after a second, and Kagome smiled brightly at him.

"I don't know what the heck that was, but thanks."

Itachi just nodded, and walked back over to his tree. Kagome went to preparing dinner while Kisame cleaned his weapons.

"What flavor of ramen do you guys like?" Kagome asked.

"Shrimp," came Kisame's answer.

"Hn, beef," Itachi replied.

Kagome nodded, and took out their ramen as well as a chicken one for her. Filling the cups with water, she closed the lids, and waited for the noodles to cook.

After a minute of complete silence besides Kisame sharpening his blades, Kagome decided to take a look at the weapons she had taken earlier. Looking at the unusual knives, she decided to ask what they were called.

"The long ones are kunai and the star ones are shuriken," Itachi answered her.

"Thanks, I'll have to ask Sesshy if he knows how to use them when I get home. He's going to be pretty mad that I'm missing training. Heh, he'll probably make me train for three days straight for being so late. Well, that or he'll beat me so hard in training that I'll feel it for a month," Kagome said, talking to herself quietly after the thanks, not thinking that they could hear her.

Itachi narrowed his eyes. She was still in training? She had thrown him through two trees, and she was still in training? And just who was this 'Sesshy' she kept mentioning?

Kagome popped out of her musings when she realized that the noodles were done. Passing the cups to their owners and a bottle of water to Kisame, she started to eat.

"So, you ready to ask your questions yet?" Kagome asked, not looking up from her noodles.

"Hn. How are you associated with demons?" Itachi asked.

Kagome blinked. Weren't demons common around here? Both ninjas had demon blood in them, and so did the other ninjas, no matter how diluted it was.

"Well, for the past three years, some friends and I have been fighting demons on an almost daily basis. That and the majority of my friends are actually demons," Kagome told them.

Itachi blinked. Was she lying to him? No. She was telling the truth. She must be; he was using an eye-based jutsu for detecting lies on her at the moment. Who was this girl? Where did she come from? Why did she travel with demons? Her answer had just opened new doors to questions, questions that he had every intent of having answered.

"_You should ask her about where the well goes,"_ a voice said inside his head. Itachi would have jumped ... if he hadn't long-since trained himself to remain calm and collected through everything he came across. Only this girl had ever made him feel so much emotion in a long time. Mostly anger, sadistic pleasure, curiosity, and rage, but it was more than anyone else could claim.

'Who are you?' Itachi demanded of the new voice inside his head.

"_My name is Bob. You like it? I just got it today, when Kagome asked me what I would like to be called," _the voice told him.

'Where are you?' Itachi then demanded. He didn't like the fact that someone else could so easily enter his mind.

"_I'm around Kagome's neck," _the voice answered in a careless tone.

'You're the pink sphere on the girl's necklace that she was talking to,' Itachi stated more that questioned.

"_That would be correct. I'm the soul of the Shikon Jewel. But really, if you want to get the most out of your answer, you should ask her about where the well goes," _the Jewel informed him.

'Hn. Very well,' Itachi conceded.

"So, do you have your second question ready?" Kagome inquired as she finished her ramen. She took out and began preparing another cup for Kisame, who had just asked for a second one.

Itachi nodded his head. "To where does the well we found you near lead?" Kagome stiffened. It seemed the Jewel was correct.

"Why would you want to know about a dried-up old well?" Kagome asked, trying to lead him off the question. She forced a small laugh.

Itachi saw what she was doing, and smirked. It must really be something if she was trying to change the subject. What was it about the dried-up old well that she was trying to hide?

"I asked my question, now answer it, Ka-Go-Me." Itachi made sure to pronounce each syllable like she did when she yelled to make sure that she remembered her part of the deal.

"Um…" Kagome knew she was stuck between a rock and a hard place. On one hand, she could tell him the truth and hope he didn't believe her, but then he would likely just kill her. Or she could tell him a lie. She had a feeling that he would know the instant the words left her mouth that they were false. Thinking fast, she tried to decide what she could do.

"You don't want to waste your last question about a well do you? I mean... there are so many other things you could ask about…like how I got the rock to transform earlier," Kagome prompted.

Itachi wasn't falling for it. As much as he would like to know how she did it, that could wait until she was being questioned at the base. "No, I would like very much to hear about the well you seem so attached to."

Suddenly she had inspiration. She decided to tell them the truth, but make it sound ridiculous. Then she'd add in a very applicable quote from her favorite movie, 'Pirates of the Caribbean'.

Taking a deep breath, she looked at them. "No lies?" she asked. They both nodded. Kisame wondered why Itachi would ask about the well instead of any other number of things he could be asking, and he wondered why she would try to avoid answering it. It was just an old dried up well. Wasn't it? He certainly hadn't felt any chakra coming from it earlier.

"Fine then. If you really must know, it started when I was pulled down the well on my fifteenth birthday by a centipede demon as long as a tree. When I came out of the well, instead of a roof being over my head, there were only clear open skies much cleaner than the ones I was use to. I had traveled back five hundred years into the past. I used the well as a transport back and forth through time where I had to do battle with demons." Kagome paused, and made to look like she was trying to think the rest up. "I had to also do a mission of great importance that could change history in my time if I messed up. Once my mission was complete, I still traveled back and forth… until my talking sadistic pink marble, Bob, sent me here. A completely different world." Kagome explained it so even a child wouldn't believe it, even though it was completely true.

"You said no lies!" Kisame shouted, and pointed an accusing finger at her.

Kagome wanted to brake out in a smile so bad that it hurt. He was doing exactly what he was supposed to do.

Itachi had kept his jutsu on through the whole answer, and saw she wasn't lying. She was answering truthfully, but explained it to look like a lie. He smirked mentally. "She's not lying, Kisame."

Kagome could have laughed out loud if it wouldn't have ruined the effect.

"If that was the truth, she would have told us something else. She was making it up as she went!" Kisame exclaimed.

That was her cue. "Unless I knew that you wouldn't believe the truth even if I told it to you," Kagome pointed out.

Kisame fell silent. Itachi's mental smirk grew, and a real one joined it; so that was her plan to get out of the answer. It was actually a very good plan. Make the truth sound unbelievable, then confuse the people questioning you by making them doubt themselves. "Yes, it is the truth, isn't it Kagome?" Itachi said in a sly voice. Her plan would have worked had he not had his jutsu.

"_She tried to cheat! Quoting a movie like that. Man, Kisame really fell for it, too," _the Jewel pointed out to him.

'Indeed.'

"So you're not from this world, Kagome," Itachi stated. Kagome tensed. Why did Itachi believe her? Why wasn't he accusing her of lying? He was supposed to be confused, dang it! Why was he just smirking like that? Oh, that couldn't be good.

Itachi could almost read her thoughts. "I wouldn't have believed a word you said… if it wasn't for the fact that, with these eyes, I can tell if you lie to me. Not once did you tell a lie in that whole story."

Kagome started to break into a nervous sweat. So _that's_ why it didn't work. Imagine that, some crazy power for the crazy eyes. Who would have thought? How would she get out of this one?

"But now that I think back on it, it's not very surprising. You were yelling at the jewel when we first found you; it was when you first arrived here, wasn't it?" Itachi took a step towards Kagome. "Then when we traded asking and answering questions, there were some you should have known the answer to even as a civilian, but you truly didn't have a clue." He took another step closer to her. "Then there is your strange power. I had never heard of a miko before, but I know you didn't lie about being one." This time she took a step back when he took one forward. "Then… your story matches perfectly with what you were yelling at the well, when you didn't think anyone was there." Kagome's back hit a tree when she took another step back.

"Tell me, Kagome," Itachi took another step forward. His eyes shined with a predator's gleam. Kagome shuddered at the sight. She saw just how much of a killer he was. It reminded her of how Sesshomaru used to look at her, before their groups teamed up and she started to look out for Rin.

"How does the well work?" he asked in a sly voice as he took another step. He was only two steps away from her now. She started scooting around the tree, getting ready to run for it.

Itachi let out a sharp laugh when he saw what she was going to do. "I don't think that you'll be going to the well or home for a while, if ever again, Kagome."

Itachi was only a step away from her now. She looked like a cornered animal; her eyes were wide and her whole body was tense, ready to bolt at a second's notice.

Itachi took the step and placed has hands on each side of her so she couldn't escape. She looked into his cold calculating eyes, before he leaned in to her ear and whispered, "Oh, no, my little Kagome, you're going to come back to the base with Kisame and I. You could be _very_ useful."

"And if you try to run, I'll have Kisame cut your legs off." Itachi warned. Kagome let out a small whimper.

'_I'm not going to let you go home, Kagome. You must stay here, and I will do _anything_ to make sure I get my way,_' the Jewel told her, without emotion, in her mind. '_This is your new home now._'

Itachi caught Kagome as her legs gave out. Her gaze was blank; she was lost in her own thoughts. The Jewel wouldn't let her go home. She would never see her friends again. She wouldn't be there to watch Shippo grow. The Jewel wouldn't even let her go back to her own time. How could the thing be so cruel?

Kagome grabbed a fistful of Itachi's cloak as she let out a chocked sob. She was stuck here in this world that she didn't want to be apart of. She didn't want to give it a chance; she just wanted to go home.

"Please, just let me go home," Kagome begged anyone who would listen. It didn't matter if it was Itachi or the Jewel listening. She just wanted to go home.

"No. You could help speed the Akatsuki's plans up. Besides, you have nowhere else to go. The Jewel won't let you go back home, anyway," Itachi pointed out as he lowered his arms. Kagome gripped his cloak tighter as another sob made it through her barriers. "This world can be very dangerous; it would be best if you just stayed with us, anyway. At the very least, we can offer you protection from some people who, if they learned of you, would without a doubt experiment on you and try to copy your powers." Itachi's voice held no emotion, but it was the most he could offer her.

She truly did just want to go home. She had a family and friends there who she was happy with, no doubt. He could clearly see that she hadn't been expecting her magical jewel to send her here.

But it had to be fate that she was sent here, just as he was passing by. He didn't usually believe in fate and destiny, but it was too much of a coincidence for this not to be one of them. A member of the Akatsuki, the group trying to gather the nine-tailed beast, stumbles upon a person from a different world that had powers over demons.

But seeing the high-spirited woman who had previously stood up to him, insult him to his face, and completely dismiss him, even trick him being so broken and frightened now, like a trapped animal, sobbing into his cloak, softened his cold heart enough that he wanted to give her some sort of comfort. Not that he would let that be known, though.

Itachi decided at that moment that he would protect this girl… at least until he could find someone else who could, or until she could defend herself and was used to this world that was new to her. He didn't know why he did it, or even why he cared if she was ripped from her life. He had caused enough people to lose their loved ones that he should have been immune to this type of thing. But watching someone who had shown such spirit so fragile now, he just couldn't help but want to protect her. He wouldn't go back on his silent declaration. Once he made a choice, there was no going back.

Looking at the small shaking girl clutching to him, he saw how bad his statement had scared her. Not the threat he had given her about running away, but about the Jewel not letting her go home. It had hit her that she had just pretty much lost her friends, family, and both places she called home. And it had hit her hard.

She was so shaken up that she didn't even notice when he picked her up bridal style and brought her over to her sleeping bag. Lifting it, he slid her in it before zipping it up to keep the chill out.

Looking over the fire, Itachi met Kisame's gaze. "She'll be coming with us back to base. I don't think her running away will be as much of a problem anymore. She's just realized that she's stuck here," Itachi told Kisame.

Kisame nodded gravely. "It must be hard for her to loose both places she calls home as well as friends and family all at once without warning," Kisame said in a rare show of compassion.

She seemed to bring out the better side of him when she was around. Even if she did give him what basically amounted to a shock collar. She only used it when he insulted her and the last time she had run for it, and she had even apologized for it, too, feeling bad about it. But he would've done the same. The only difference was that, if someone were to kidnap him, he would slit his or her throat the first chance he got. And she could have slit his and Itachi's throats while they were both stuck and there was nothing ether could have done about it, but she didn't. Instead, she just did minimal damage, and ran for it.

Kisame was starting to become attached to her, and, from the looks of it, Itachi seemed to be becoming attached to her, too. Maybe even more so than him.

It was a new feeling for both of them to become attached to something. They weren't sure about how to deal with it, either.

"I'll keep first watch; try and get some sleep. We're going to have to try and make up for lost time tomorrow," Itachi told Kisame.

Kisame nodded, and unfolded the blanket Kagome had given him. While the cloaks were plenty warm, there was just something comforting about having a blanket over you while you slept. Going over to a large tree, Kisame nodded off to sleep.

Itachi waited for Kisame to fall asleep before he called out to the Jewel.

'Shikon Jewel,' Itachi called out with his mind.

"_Call me Bob," _The Jewel answered.

'You will give me the answers to my questions,' Itachi demanded of the Jewel, ignoring it's response.

"_Or what? I'm a _Jewel_. You can't exactly torture me for information, you know," _the Jewel responded dryly.

Itachi fumed. 'You will give me the information I require, or I'll throw you into a lake.'

"_And I'll just posses some poor sucker to fetch me. Then I'll just come back to my guardian, Kagome. Besides, you can't even get me off Kagome's neck without cutting her head off. Then your answers would be worthless, wouldn't they?" _Bob was having a great time pestering Itachi._ "But since you asked so politely, I'll answer the questions I feel like answering. But some of them aren't my place to tell."_

'Fine, what is the world that Kagome comes from like?'

"_Which one? The one with demons, or without demons?" _the Jewel asked.

'Both.'

"_Well, she originally comes from a place that is more advanced than this one, but you're pretty close to her time. Pretty much everyone lives like civilians there, except largely without the clans. As an adult, generally by the time that you get married but it can be earlier, you break away from your family and start your life on your own. You can still visit your family anytime you like; it's just that the head of your family doesn't control your life anymore." _The Jewel explained a little more about Kagome's time to Itachi.

"_Then five hundred years into the past, there are demons that raid human villages and feast on anything with blood. But those are only the lower demons. There are demons that are higher up that have a more human build. You can usually tell how powerful a demon by its looks. If they look almost human, but with a few differences like a tail or wings, then they are the ones you have to look out for. _

_There are wars constantly over the land, and much bloodshed. But for all the demons and bloodshed, there are mikos - humans that can kill a demon with a touch if they're powerful enough, and can heal with the same power._

_Kagome here is especially good at healing. She restored the arm of one of her friends; it had been cut off nearly three years before, not to mention that he was a demon and she didn't unintentionally …purify… him in the process. She probably felt bad because it was in her defense that the limb was removed._

_But these mikos, while they can be great in a fight against demons, usually are defenseless against humans. Which is why Kagome has been training so hard. She doesn't like being helpless. She even found a way to change her miko energy to something that can hurt humans if need be, though it doesn't pack nearly the punch to a human as it does a demon." _The Jewel finished explaining about the feudal era.

Itachi thought over what the Jewel had said. Kagome could restore lost limbs; could she restore his failing eyesight as well?

"_Yes, it would be very easy for her to do so. But looking through you memories, I would say she would have to do it regularly for the best results. Probably every time you used your eyes for a large jutsu, almost like an eye doctor,"_ the Jewel told him.

'Can you read thoughts of mine that I don't send your way?' Itachi questioned in his mind.

"Yes, and I can also go through your memories. But don't worry, I'm only taking common knowledge of this world, nothing TOO personal," Bob told him.

'Hn.' Itachi didn't feel too comfortable with a jewel named Bob going through his memories, but knowing there was nothing he could do about it, he took it in stride.

Looking over to Kagome, he saw her still-sleeping form, and thought about what she had done earlier to him. It was nothing personal against him; she had just wanted to get home, so he decided to let that slip. Besides, he had already scared her to where she could feel it in her bones. He would let her get off with a warning this time, but if she ever tried something like that again, he would punish her.

Besides, while he could force her to heal his eyes, he didn't want to take the chance that she might attack him halfway through the process, and hurt or possibly even kill him to try and escape. He would have to slowly gain her trust and have her indebted to him before he asked her to heal his eyes. Then, he wouldn't have to worry about going blind.

End chapter.

**Please tell me what you think in a review. I would like at least fourty since 95 of you have alerts on here. I think that's reasonable.**

**And I will try and Update once a week just so you people know. Thank you for your time,**

**-Probs**

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	5. Challenging Authority

Okay peoples. This is what is called chapter Five. And for those of you who can't count that's one more than chapter four and one less than chapter six. Just thought I would make that clear to you people for no reason.

I would like to give a thanks to my beta reader kawaiichibishun and those who were kind enough to review. I would also like to thank those who had enough guts to vote at my polls that are still open. Read bottom to know more.

For those who are to cheap to review I hope that you get over your fear of typing someday. I mean how hard is it to type wither you liked something or not? I'll tell you right now, **IT'S NOT THAT HARD**. You people stopped reviewing six away from my goal of forty. It's like you're trying to taunt me.

Disclaimer: Do _I _own Inuyasha or Naruto? The incorrect answer is yes.

**Chapter Five: Challenging**

Kagome awoke with the sun, feeling worn out. Still half-asleep, she lazily dug through her bag until she pulled out some instant breakfast food that she had packed. Walking over to the river, she filled the bottles with water. Coming back to camp, she prepared breakfast with her eyes half-closed and a dazed look on her face.

Kisame had known the minute she had awoken. He was surprised that she awoke this early without any help. The sun wasn't going to rise for another hour yet. He watched as she went to the river, and came back with the water bottles. She prepared breakfast without any problems, and left the plate on the ground by the fire.

"Here, Inu_-(yawn)-_yasha. Breakfast. Eat." With that said, she walked back over to her sleeping bag. She hadn't even finished pulling the top of the sleeping bag over herself completely when her hand fell, and she was asleep once more. The steady rhythm of her chest rising and falling was testament to the fact she was out like a light.

Kisame blinked. What the crap was that all about? She made breakfast for a dog demon in her sleep? She must have been sleepwalking, Kisame decided. But who was Inuyasha? Was he a friend of hers? Was it even a he? Question after question kept popping up into his mind about Kagome's strange behavior.

Kisame looked over at Itachi's sleeping form. Itachi was a deep sleeper. Okay, he was a selectively deep sleeper. He could hear an attacker coming a mile away. But waking him up to actually get up, that was impossible. He could sleep through a tornado and not even twitch.

Not wanting the food to go to waste, Kisame picked it up and ate it. After a couple of hours, Itachi woke up. His eyes were beady, and his hair was a mess, sticking out in all directions. Still half-asleep, he walked/wobbled over to the nearby river to wash his face and wake up fully.

Itachi came back wide awake, and his hair was in his smooth pony tail. He walked over to the fire and stopped. Something was different. Looking around camp, he tried to see what was wrong. Kisame, fire, dirt, girl, trees, more dirt, a rock…

Why was there a girl in their camp? Itachi thought it over. Suddenly, everything came back to him from the night before. Kagome. The girl was Kagome. And Kagome was still asleep. Looking at the sun, Itachi saw that it was about a half-hour until they needed to get back to the road.

Walking over to the sleeping girl, he thought over what would be the best way to wake her. He decided to first try and wake her up by calling her name.

"Kagome," he said, not loudly but firmly.

"I already made you breakfast, Inuyasha. Now let me sleep," Kagome mumbled.

Who was this 'dog demon'? One of the friends she was talking about while they traveled yesterday? Trying again, he said her name more loudly. "Kagome."

"Shut up, Inuyasha! I'm trying to sleep!" she said, raising her head before letting it plop back down, and going back to sleep.

Itachi paused. Well, nobody could say he hadn't tried to do it the polite way first. Walking over to the water bottles, he grabbed one. Coming back to Kagome, he opened it, and poured a small amount into her ear.

The result was immediately noticed. Kagome shot out of her sleeping bag like it was on fire. "Sit, Boy!" Kagome yelled at the top of her lungs while pointing at the ground.

Itachi and Kisame blinked. 'Sit, Boy'? Was Inuyasha really a dog?

Kagome looked at Itachi and Kisame. "You're not Inuyasha," Kagome said, sounding confused and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "I must be kidnapped again. Give me a minute; it'll come back to me." As Kagome said this, she waved for Itachi to go sit down. Sitting down herself, she grabbed the same bottle that Itachi used to wake her with, and poured some into her hands. Rubbing the water into her face and a little bit more into her eyes, she looked up at them.

Everything from last night came back to her, and she fell to her butt, realizing that the Jewel really wouldn't let her go back home. Home…they wouldn't even notice she was gone. She had told her mother that she was going to the feudal era for the summer, and would be coming back to visit every other month. Wanting to surprise her friends, she had told them the opposite. No one would even think anything was wrong until two months time. By then, if the well did let Inuyasha through to check on her, it might just take him to her time. No one was going to be coming for her this time. Even the Jewel, which she had given so much for, was against her. She was stuck in a world not even her own this time, and the people she was with were going to kill her if she wasn't useful. She was going to die alone, and none of her loved ones would even know.

Pulling her knees to her chest for comfort, she let silent tears run down her cheeks without making a sound. The sudden realization had completely hit home. She had realized it last night, but she had gone to bed hoping and praying it was a bad dream she would wake up from to find Inuyasha demanding his breakfast.

Kisame and Itachi became uncomfortable when she started to cry. Nether of them had any real experience with comforting someone. Kisame had never lost anyone, because he was always an orphan, and no one ever got close to him because how he looked. Itachi, well Itachi was the one who _murdered_ his family, tortured his little brother, and then left with a few choice words. Some of it was even with a smirk.

Kisame awkwardly placed an arm around Kagome's shoulders. She tightly clung to him, and cried harder. "Hey, come on now, don't cry," he begged. "You can come and live with me and Itachi back at base." Kisame tried to make her feel better. Remembering that he told her that they would kill her if she wasn't of any use, he decided it might be a good time to take that back. "And if anyone gives you any problems, I'll kill them for you. And if one of them even looks at you the wrong way, I'll gouge his eyes out for ya. How about that?" Kisame said it a light tone to cheer her up.

Kagome sniffed a little, and nodded. The Jewel said that it wouldn't remove the barrier, so she was stuck here. At least now she had someplace to stay. And Kisame wasn't that bad of a person, from what _she's_ seen so far, that is.

"Stop crying," a slightly cold voice ordered. "Your family and friends wouldn't have wanted it. And if you're crying because you're scared being here…. don't be. I won't let any harm come to you," Itachi said in a firm voice that left no room for argument. He didn't know what to do to make her stop crying, so he did the only thing that he knew might give her some sense of comfort: he told her his silent declaration.

Out of the corner of his eye, Itachi could see Kisame look slightly shocked about this, before he simply accepted it, and smirked at Itachi while pulling Kagome closer to him.

Kagome looked up, shocked. 'Did he just say that he wouldn't let any harm come to me?' Kagome looked down, blushed, and nodded. He was right about her family and friends. They would smack her upside the head for crying like this. They would tell her to try and make the best of it, since she is stuck here. But she would miss them. Perhaps she could manage to convince the Jewel to let her go back home when she was done with what she needed to do here.

Kagome smiled slightly at them both. She wiped her tears away, and nodded. "Thanks. I'm sorry I'm such a mess," she apologized.

Kisame gave her a cocky smirk. "You better be. I don't give comfort out too much, and you just took up a year's supply. So don't be expecting this too often," Kisame joked with her. Kagome gave out a short laugh, and Kisame helped her to her feet.

"Get ready. We're leaving soon," Itachi told her in an indifferent voice as he put out the fire.

Kagome nodded, took out a change of clothes, and went to change behind the trees. Coming back, she was wearing tan cargo pants and a black shirt that said 'Death is Life's Way of Saying You've Been Fired' in red lettering.

Rolling up her sleeping bag and gathering her things together, she turned to them. "We can eat while we're walking." Itachi nodded, and started walking.

-

At Orochimaru's base

Orochimaru was talking with Sasuke in the throne room when one of his captains barged in. Orochimaru looked at the man in distaste.

"Orochimaru-sama, I have important information on Itachi Uchiha!" the man said as he bowed at the waist.

This caught both Orochimaru and Sasuke's attention. Sasuke glared at the man.

"Go on," Orochimaru commanded.

The man nodded. "My team and I were…" The man hesitated. "…_collecting_ some money that some people owed us," he continued.

"You mean you were robbing travelers," Orochimaru said. Orochimaru truly didn't care if his underlings robbed people, as long as it was on back-roads and they got rid of the bodies when they were done. He couldn't have spies from different villages following his men back to one of his bases, after all.

The man nodded, unsure if he would be punished. Seeing no punishment forthcoming, he continued. "Yes, we ambushed a young woman who claimed that she was insane. When we attacked her, she was able to form a barrier. But the barrier was made of a pink power that I have never seen before. It certainly wasn't chakra. The best way to describe it would to be to say it was…" The man seemed to be searching for the right word. "…pure. But the second time we attacked her, the barrier fell. The moment it fell, she re-formed the strange power and shot it at half of us. The second that her power touched the clones, the jutsu was dispelled. She killed two of my team members before the others were able to shoot a fire jutsu at her. She jumped out of the way without jutsu, and looked shocked. The edge of her skirt caught on fire, and she dropped the fight to put it out. Taking advantage of the distraction, the two were going in for the kill when two kunai lodged into their throats. I looked to where the kunai had come from… and it was Itachi Uchiha who had protected the girl." At this point the man shivered a little. "And he looked extremely mad that we had attacked her. She greeted him in a friendly manner, and I took the opportunity to run back and tell you the news." The man finished the report looking extremely pleased with himself.

"Are you sure that it was Itachi Uchiha that you saw?" Orochimaru demanded.

"Yes, there is no doubt. He wearing an Akatsuki cloak, and he had the Sharingan activated at the moment. Not only that, but his partner Kisame Hoshigaki was with him. Kisame also seemed to be very upset that we were attacking the girl," the captain told them.

"You have done well to bring this information to me, but I can't have this getting out. If Itachi knew we know about the girl, it would eliminate the element of surprise. And you seem the type to have a loose, bragging tongue at the bar." Orochimaru smirked as one of his snakes came up behind the captain and slithered up the man's leg.

"No sir! I won't let a word out! I don't even like going to the bar!" the man lied through his teeth with a pleading tone. When he saw there was no point in pleading with Orochimaru, he tried in vain to get the thing off. The snake continued up the man, and coming to his neck. The man started screaming when the snake began hissing in his face, then launched itself into his throat. The man fell over, dead, almost immediately, and the snake slithered up to Orochimaru. He started to pet the snake fondly.

Orochimaru smirked. So Itachi wasn't gay after all. Who would have thought? "It seems that your brother has taken an interest in a young woman. What are you going to do about it, Sasuke?"

Sasuke thought it over. There were two things he could do. One: he could kill the girl or use her to get to Itachi. Two: he could take the girl from his brother, and have her stand by his side when he killed him. That would probable hurt Itachi the most. First, he would have to see the girl before he chose. He couldn't picture a weak girl traveling with his brother, so there was the possibility that she would be worth looking into.

"I need to look into this girl some more before I can do anything," Sasuke said.

"Would you like for me to send spies to follow her?" Orochimaru asked.

"No, if she's traveling with Itachi, he would notice and kill them before they could bring back whatever information they learned. We will probably need to go ourselves," Sasuke said.

Orochimaru's smirk deepened. "Perhaps it would be a good idea to see this girl that has this _pure_power personally," Orochimaru said. He wanted to see this power for himself. The man had been so sure that her power wasn't chakra, so that all but eliminated the chance of it being a kekkai genkai. No, what she had was surely something new, and he wanted to see it with his own eyes.

Sasuke nodded. Yes, he would see this girl personally. He had been under Orochimaru's training for a little over a year and a half now, and this was the first major news of Itachi they had heard.

With Itachi, Kagome, and Kisame

It was noon, and they hadn't stopped all day. Kagome had left them both in wonder as to why she wasn't tired with how heavy her bag was. She didn't show the slightest weakness or slowing down.

As they traveled, Kagome had been explaining about her world to them, to fill the silence. While Kisame openly showed interest, Itachi looked right on ahead and kept walking. But you could tell he was listening intently to what she was saying, because he would ask her questions about her world from time to time.

After a while, Kagome started asking questions about their world and how jutsus worked. Kisame or Itachi would explain, and started to tell her about the world she was now in. Kisame was surprisingly very intelligent when it came to how chakra works and different things that most ninjas know.

"It sounds like this place has the best of both of my times. Technology to help get by day-to-day, and more forests and cleaner air and water," Kagome told them after a while of them explaining to her about their world. "But it seems that, even here, they still have a lot of bloodshed," she said, somewhat depressed.

"Hn. Bloodshed will exist wherever you go. Too many people have different ideas for there not to be war," Itachi commented.

Kagome sighed, and nodded. "True."

After a while of silence, Kagome pulled out her I-pod. Sticking the earphones in her ears, she turned it on. Kagome started to bob to the music as she walked.

Itachi and Kisame watched in interest as she started to mouth the words while bobbing her head, hair flying in all directions. What was she doing? And what was that little box with the earphones?

Kisame, curious by nature walked up to Kagome, and grabbed the small box from her hand while she had her eyes closed. Looking it over, he saw the screen was on. There was a line that was slowly growing and some different names.

"Hey! Give that back!" Kagome made a grab for it, but Kisame just lifted it out of her reach, pulling the earphones out of her ears with it. Hearing a different type of music come from it, he pulled the earphones up and placed them in his own ears.

Kisame's ears were flooded with Linkin Park. "What is this?" Kisame peered at it.

"It's a I-pod. My mother gave it to me for Christmas."

"What is an I-pod, and what is Christmas?" Itachi tried to keep his curiosity out of his voice.

"An I-pod stores hundreds of songs on it so you can listen to them whenever you want. You have to charge them when they run out of power with an attachment to a computer, but I found a way to use my miko power to charge it. It lasts longer, and I only have to use a drop of my power for it. As for Christmas, it's a holiday back in my world that brings friends and family closer together. You also exchange gifts," Kagome explained to Itachi. "Now give me back my I-pod, Kisame!" she demanded, and tried to grab it again.

Kisame effortlessly lifted the I-pod a little higher when she jumped, and continued to listen to the music. It was different than he was used to, but good. He liked it.

Getting mad, Kagome charged her finger with a small amount of miko energy. She poked Kisame in the side, he yelped, and the I-pod went flying from his grip. Kagome's eyes widened as the I-pod headed straight for the back of Itachi's head.

Without even looking back, Itachi caught the I-pod with amazing speed and brought it in front of him. Eyeing the small box, Itachi put the earphones in while Kisame was sulking and examining the small burn that Kagome had given him. Every time he poked it, he would hiss with pain, until Kagome quickly healed it.

For a second nothing happened, and Itachi began wondering what was wrong with it. After another moment, a new song came on. The title on the screen read Paralyzer, by Finger Eleven. Accepting the music, Itachi placed the I-pod into one of the inside pockets of his cloak, and continued to listen. Kisame could warn them if there was anyone following them.

Kagome ran up in front of him, and stopped. Putting her hand out in demand of her music player, she did her best to intimidate him into handing it over. She didn't look that terribly intimidating, more like a mother demanding for her child to give her something they weren't supposed to have.

Ignoring Kagome, he walked around her. Feeling her temper rising, he almost smiled. He enjoyed getting a rise out of her. It was easy, and amusing to see her reactions.

Kagome rubbed her hands together, and placing a little miko energy into them, she walked up behind Itachi. Looking behind her to see Kisame waving 'no' to her wildly, she smiled a wicked smile that you wouldn't have thought someone with such pure energy could muster. Still looking at Kisame with a smile, she reached out to touch Itachi on the back.

Kagome was completely taken off guard when her hands were snatched and held together by a vise-like grip. Looking up, she saw Itachi glaring at, her his eyes doing that weird spinning red pin-wheel thing that had prompted the nickname she'd given him. Gulping, she smiled sheepishly at him.

"Um, you had a bug on your back?" she tried.

Itachi narrowed his eyes. He had felt the moment that she had raised her power. Knowing what she was going to do, he had caught her off guard.

"You will not try that again," Itachi said coldly.

Kagome glared at him. "Give me my I-pod," she demanded.

"No. I will hang on to it for you. It could prove to be a dangerous weapon that you are planning to use against us, and it could prove useful for gaining information of what abilities you may posses." Itachi said, like it was the end of discussion. He walked around her before he was even finished with what he was saying.

"You just want to listen to my music!!" Kagome yelled at him in rage while stomping her foot.

Itachi wasn't going to deny it, so he just ignored her, and walked on like she didn't matter, or perhaps like he couldn't hear her at all. The music was quite loud.

You could almost see the steam rise from Kagome. What was with this guy? He acted like he was King of the Freakin' World! Though she didn't know much about _this_world, she did know that he wasn't its king. (She had made sure to ask Kisame.)

Kagome ran up in front of Itachi again, and started to walk ahead of him. If she knew anything about guys like him, it was that they have to be the one in charge. And that includes leading the group.

Itachi saw her start walking ahead of him by at least ten feet. He narrowed his eyes slightly. Was this girl challenging him? It seemed like anything he told her to do, she would try to do her best to avoid. Walking faster, he caught up to and passed her. When he was three feet in front of her, he started to slow down to the normal pace. He felt back in control for a moment, before she walked past him again, slowing down five feet in front of him.

That simply wouldn't do.

He knew that she was challenging his authority over her. He needed some way to show her that she was under him, and he wouldn't tolerate her challenging him every second. But he also didn't want to hurt her. It was a lot easier to bring her back to base without having to carry her, or be on guard of her running away. She had already proven that she could easily get away when the opportunity presented itself. And he didn't know what else she could do with her miko power. If he hurt her, then she was sure to try to escape. Right now, there was a thin line of trust between them that could easily be snapped.

"_Sounds like you need some help,"_ Bob said, laughing in his head.

'Hn, why would you be willing to help me? Is she not your guardian?' Itachi questioned the Jewel.

"_She is,"_ Bob confirmed.

'Then why have you sent her away from her world? Was she not safer there?' Itachi question without sounding interested. It was a skill that almost every Uchiha was born with, the ability to always sound like you couldn't care less.

"_Kagome needed to get away from our world. While she was safe and protected, she was getting into a depression. She could no longer have a life in_ _her time, because she let go of all ties except for school and her family there. If she tried to make a life there, then she would be too bored with_ _everything, because she was used to action and the adrenaline rush, and no one would understand her powers. But she also couldn't make a life in the feudal era, because she was so used to women having rights and being on a more-or-less equal level to men. She could never live somewhere women were looked down upon. So I took her here. Women aren't looked down on, people can just write her strange power off as a Bloodline. She gets the best of the two worlds put together. And after she gets used to this world, she won't be depressed any longer, and will no longer be a threat to_ _herself,"_ the Jewel said seriously.

'I see. But wouldn't sending her to a different world without her family and friends make her more depressed?'

"Yes, but once she has something that will make her continue to come here, I'll let the well open again, so she can visit her friends and family. But first she needs something to tie her to this world," Bob explained.

'Hn. What does this have to do with you helping me?' Itachi asked sternly.

"_It has everything to do with you. You want her to work for your organization thing. If I give you a way for her to have no choice but submit to your demands on this, then she would have to come back to you when her visit with her family and friends was over. I get what I need. And she wouldn't be able to challenge your authority, so you would get what you want. You merely have to escort her to the well every so often. I can even open the well for you to be able to use it when you want to, too," _the Jewel said with a sly voice._"Besides, I like it here. No demons around every turn trying to devour me for my power, Kagome seems happier then she has in two months with no pregnant women in sight, and she isn't in any danger with you around protecting her now. This place is great for me," _Bob said in a happy lazy voice.

Itachi thought it over. 'What do you propose?' Itachi could almost feel the Jewel give off an evil smile.

While Itachi and the Jewel were apparently plotting her demise, Kagome was growing more than a little nervous that Itachi hadn't passed her up yet in leading. Something bad was going to happen to her, she just knew it. There was no way that a man as proud and arrogant as Itachi would let a girl lead like this, without at least a fight of some sort.

Kisame grew worried when he suddenly saw Itachi break into the most evil smile he had ever seen. The only smile he had ever seen Itachi have was when he was plotting something against someone, or torturing a certain handful of people. Himself included. He just knew that, somewhere, at least two bunnies just died. He only hoped that Itachi wasn't smiling like that because of something he was going to do to him. Kisame got the feeling that it was for Kagome, though. Itachi looked at her back every five minutes or so, and Kisame could just feel the ill intent in the air grow.

The rest of the day was pretty quiet for the most part, the group passing a couple of travelers every once in a while until they set up camp. Itachi still had a ghost of a smirk almost the whole time, though. Even though the smirk was no longer in plain sight, you could tell it was still there. It was really starting to creep out Kagome and Kisame. Kagome especially, because he would look at her every once in a while with a glint in his eye, and she knew that it couldn't be good for her heath that he was doing that.

Kisame gathered firewood, Itachi made the fire, and Kagome cooked dinner and gathered the water. After dinner, everyone just did their part and went to bed, Kagome and Kisame still uneasy as Itachi said he would take first watch.

Kisame and Kagome kept glancing at Itachi every couple of minutes and shivering. He was still ghost smirking in a way that would have sent the devil behind his mother's skirt crying. It wasn't the easiest to get to sleep knowing that a killer is smiling less than ten feet away.

Kagome couldn't help but compare Itachi and Sesshomaru, as she helped get camp ready and prepared for bed.

They both had the same demeanor and facial expressions.

They both had little brothers, and something in the way Itachi said he had a little brother made her believe that the two weren't on good terms.

They both were deadly.

And, most importantly, they both would make HOTT-looking women. The type that made you jealous that they could look that good without even trying. But somehow, they still both looked male. If it weren't for Sesshomaru already seeing someone and looking at her as a little sister, she might have tried a relationship with him.

Besides, Sesshomaru wouldn't ever consider starting a relationship with a human. Even if he had wanted to, he had to keep the House of the Moon's bloodline pure. If there wasn't a pure heir to the throne, then his cousin would take over. That would not be good. She had briefly met the man, and didn't have any respect for the demon. The guy was a freakin' MORON! He looked weaker than a twig, and was so dumb that he didn't even get rocks in his box. Within the first week with him in charge, the Western Lands would fall. No, she and Sesshomaru could never be more than friends. At first, they felt something for each other, but they'd forced the feeling to a sibling bond. Like she had had to do for her and Inuyasha.

Kagome let out a heavy sigh. She would never get a guy she liked, it seemed. The guys that did like her tended to be morons, and the ones who weren't morons and looked really hot, she could never have a relationship with. Even on the rare occasion that the said hot-and-sometimes-smart male liked her back, there were always problems. Why did her love-life have to suck so badly?

Shrugging off her thoughts, Kagome said goodnight to her companions… to which she received in reply only a grunt and a deeper smirk that kind of creeped her out. She pushed the uneasy feeling to the side of her mind, and went to sleep.

Itachi's smirk showed as she said "Good night." Tomorrow, tomorrow he would make her know her place. Looking over at Kisame, he saw his partner staring at him. Losing the smirk, he glared at Kisame.

"Is there a problem, Kisame?"

Kisame quickly shook his head 'no'. Wrapping the blanket Kagome had given him to use around himself, he turned the other way, and went to sleep up against a tree.

End Chapter.

Okay, there is another chappie. And It seems that Bob is quite the Fav so far. :) I'm glad you all love him so much. Personally he my Fav in this story. But becareful. He has a mean streak in him too. B)

Please be kind enough to leave a review. Even if it's just to say that you like it or think it's funny, it is still wecomed. You can even leave a review saying you hate my guts. I don't really care. You _might_ -cough**Will**cough- get a mean reply but hey, at least I replied. B)

And my polls are on if I should start another story or not. And if so which one. I will still update this one ever week so you don't need to worry about that.

-Probs


	6. Come

**Yo! Okay, I'm a little bit late with posting this chapter but it still monday so no one is going to kill me,...right? **

**Okay, I would like to thank all my reviewers who were kind enough to leave a review. I also would like to thank my beta reader kawaiichibishun for all the hard work she does.**

**And for those who said that they don't like Bob: that's fine. It's your choice to like a character or not. But please have the decency to sign in. I have anomous reviewing on for those who don't have acounts but still want to say what they think. Oh yeah. Bob is supposed to have an evil twisted mind so you saying that is actually means that I was getting my point accross. So thanks.**

**Now this is the chapter that the title comes from. And you all get to see what Itachi's planning with Bob. **

**Disclaimer: No I don't own so don't sue.**

**Chapter Six: Come**

Kagome was making breakfast, while Itachi and Kisame were waiting patiently for it to cook. Well, Itachi was waiting patiently; Kisame was throwing a fit.

"Is it done yet?" Kisame asked, for the third time in five minutes, over Kagome's shoulder.

Kagome answered "No," and continued cooking. Traveling with Inuyasha had made her _almost_ immune to the whining of guys.

As soon as breakfast was done cooking, Kisame grabbed his plate, and started eating like he hadn't seen food in a week. If Kagome wasn't so used to that manner of cooling, she might have been disgusted with the display. But, once again, after traveling with Inuyasha, she could dismiss any lack of manners.

Itachi ate his breakfast like a noble might, and Kagome couldn't help but wonder what type of family he had come from. His manners were as good as Sesshomaru's. When she really thought about it, Itachi did act like he was born of a high clan. That was one of the reasons that Sesshomaru always acted like everyone else was just insignificant dirt that wasn't worthy the air they breathed. It was almost scary how similar Itachi and Sesshomaru where.

When Kagome and Kisame had finished eating, Kagome went down to the creek, and washed the pan she had used. Coming back, she packed up all her things and was ready to go. But as much as she wanted to, she couldn't shake the feeling of dread that something bad was about to happen.

She had woke up with the feeling, too. As soon as she saw Itachi was back to his normal non-emotional self, she had the creeping feeling that some life-changing and very, very bad thing was going to happen to her _very _soon.

Kisame and Kagome waited for Itachi to stand up, showing he was ready to go, after he was done eating breakfast. He seemed to be taking his time this morning in everything he did. Kagome and Kisame had been packed and ready to go for twenty minutes when, finally, Itachi stood up … but didn't move.

"Hey, are you all right, Itachi?" Kagome asked, a bit concerned. Maybe Itachi didn't use the blanket, and was getting sick? She had found it folded up on top of her bag.

Itachi looked Kagome straight in the eye. There was no emotion on his face, but Kagome could have sworn there was a spark of determination and amusement in his eyes. And she got the feeling that it had something to do with her feeling of dread.

"Kagome," Itachi started.

Kagome didn't like the tone of voice he used. It sounded like there was nothing that she could do to oppose the next thing to come out of his mouth. It sounded like when she and Sesshomaru first met, and he had tried to kill her. It wasn't that great of an experience, really. Not one she wished to repeat.

"From now on, you will obey everything I tell you. I am not asking you this, I am commanding this. And every time you try and disobey, I will be forced to punish you. You no longer have any say in what you do, and are to ask me before you decided on something. Am I clear?" Itachi demanded.

"You **really** went about that the wrong way," Bob told him, clearly very worried.

'Hn. She has accept it as her fate. I may not even need to do what you told me. She knows her place now,' Itachi said confidently. Why wouldn't he be confident? He was Itachi Uchiha. All girls obeyed him; it was like some unwritten law that no one saw but _always_ obeyed.

Kagome's bangs hide her face from view. Itachi took this as a 'yes' and started walking. He barely avoided the dark blue orb that flew at where he would have been, obliterating the next ten trees in front of him. Something told him she hadn't accepted her fate.

"Like **Heck** I will," Kagome said in a deathly cold voice, shocking Itachi out of his mental conversation. "You expect me to just roll over and obey every little thing you say like a good little _**dog**_?" she spat. "Well **news flash** for you, pretty boy, I'm no-one's dog!" Kagome raised her head. You could see the fire burning in her eyes, turning them a deep, almost black, blue. "I'm sick and tired of people claiming me without my consent!" She threw another blast of blue power. Itachi dodged it, and glared at her.

"You will stop this nonsense at once," he stated in a deadly voice that held warning in it. This just seemed to raise her temper to a whole new level.

"_Oh, you've __**really**__ done it now! She won't let this go very easily." _

'Hn. She will learn her place.'

"Who are **you** to order me what to do?! I don't have to listen to a single word you say! I could have killed you as soon as I found demon blood in your bloodstream! With a touch of my fingers, I can kill you from the inside out!" Kagome started to put miko power heavily into her hands. "Then, if it didn't kill you outright, I could heal you enough to do it again!" Kagome's miko power started spreading, until her body looked like it had blue flames engulfing it. Her eyes had a wild look.

She was like an animal that would never be tamed. Itachi had just tried to place that wild animal in a cage without so much as a muzzle, and now he was going to pay the consequences.

Kagome started focusing the wild blue flame into her palms, and Itachi felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. Kisame was already a mile away. The pure aura was too much for him. He had heard what Itachi said, and just knew that this was going to turn out bad. Most likely one of them was going to die. And regardless of what he knew Itachi could do, he had a feeling that Itachi wasn't going to come out of this unharmed.

Kagome was long past ticked; she was all out pissed off now! How dare he tell her that she had to obey his every whim! She started rapidly throwing the blue fireballs at him. It didn't matter if she hit him - at the moment, she needed to let out her anger. And if it hit him, great! If not, then this place would make a great clearing for the next travelers.

Itachi was starting to have a hard time avoiding the blue flames. When one even so much as scraped his cloak, the part it touched would be nothing but charcoal. There were hardly any trees left within a mile radius. But he wouldn't take what he said back. His pride was at stake. If he took it back, it was like she won at challenging him. And that just wouldn't do.

"I'm not your property!" he heard Kagome scream at him. Fine, he would make her his property. She now belonged to him. He would let her know it, too. And once something belonged to an Uchiha, they never gave it up. Now that he really thought about it, she had belonged to him the moment he had saved her life.

Itachi knew, somewhere in the back of his mind, that what he was thinking was extremely childish, but at the moment he didn't care. He had made his mind up, and decided that Kagome now belonged to him. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.

Itachi made three shadow clones of himself, and charged at Kagome.

As Kagome saw him do the same thing that the bandits had with their hands, she knew he was making the clones. As soon as they were within a ten foot radius of her, she expanded her powers into an orb over her, and shot it out, purifying the clones.

Itachi took this into note as he pulled out three kunai. Throwing them at her with deadly precision, he waited to see what she would do.

Kagome saw the knives coming at her, quickly changed her power to a deep purple color, and slashed the air in front of her. The purple disk she had thrown cut through the kunai, and kept going to Itachi.

Itachi barely had enough time to get out of his shock and jump out of the way. Not a second later, he was still grazed on the arm from not jumping soon enough. He looked over, to see the disk heading back like a boomerang. Jumping out of the way again, Itachi waited to see what Kagome would do now it was coming back at her.

Kagome smirked when she saw Itachi get the scratch on his arm.

When the disk came back at her, she caught it with one hand, and absorbed it back into her power stash, a technique she had learned from Miroku. He had told her how holy people could borrow power from nature, and add it to their power stash when they were low. She had asked if she could reuse her miko energy in a similar way, and have it return to her. Sango had made her a miniature boomerang bone to practice using, before switching to her miko energy at a low level. It had hurt like heck when she had first tried to catch her energy after she had released it, but then she found that if she kept a little of the same energy in her hand until she caught the rest, it would just be added to what was in her hand - like when a drop of water touches another, and the larger combines with the smaller one.

Itachi watched with interest as she absorbed the energy back into herself. She most definitely knew what she was doing, but she also wasn't the best fighter, either. Deciding to end this quickly Itachi started to reach into his cloak for what the Jewel had told him to prepare the night before.

Kagome watched as he pulled something small out of his cloak. Getting ready for an attack, she was taken off-guard when she saw it was a necklace. A necklace that looked very familiar. It was one of her rosaries! Kagome's eyes widened when he started chanting a very familiar chant, but there was something different about it. It was more complex.

Itachi pulled out the red and black rosary that he had taken from Kagome's bag last night after she had fallen asleep. He almost smirked at the colors. The same colors as the cloaks of the Akatsuki, and, even more appropriately, the red matched the symbol of the Uchiha clan. Later, he may even put the Uchiha clan symbol on it. It was shorter than the other rosaries that she had; it would almost be a choker on her. Saying the chant that the Jewel had taught him the night before, he forced chakara into it like she would have with her miko energy. The beads went flying, and she tried to place up a barrier to stop them. But like he and the Jewel already had planned, the Jewel stopped her miko energy flow before she could place a barrier strong enough to block the beads.

She looked utterly shocked as her miko energy flow came to a sudden stop, and a barrier didn't form. The beads formed securely around her neck, glowing a deep red before fading out. Looking at the Jewel with pure hate, she tried to pull off her new neck accessory. She knew as soon as the necklace was in place what the Jewel had done.

Smirking in victory, Itachi suddenly appeared ten feet in front of her. The new necklace looked good on her. He liked having something that proved she was his on her. It was a new feeling for him to want to show his possession of something, but he liked it.

"Kagome, don't move," Itachi said coldly testing the necklace. Kagome didn't move a muscle, though he could see in her eyes that she was fighting it with an unhidden outrage. Smirking mentally, he decided to further test the necklace. "Kagome, come here." Kagome started to walk over to him, though her movements were very jerky. Even though she was fighting, it she still walked up to him and stopped in front of him. Good.

"This necklace is unlike the necklace that you gave Kisame. It makes you obey every command that I directly give to you. The only thing I can't order you to do is something that would harm you mentally or physically. Like, I could command you to jump off a bridge. The necklace wouldn't work. I also can't command you to tell me anything. The effects last until I tell them to stop, or I am no longer with in one hundred yards of you. Also, if you try anything to harm me you will be shocked much like in Kisame's case. Except that this rosary has a lot more power to it." Itachi explained it clearly. "No matter how much you try and get rid of the necklace, it won't work. Your powers won't work against my chakra in this form. The Jewel made it immune to your purity that would normally dispatch it."

Kagome's eyes blazed with fire. She was going to make him pay. She was already thinking of ways to make his life miserable. Oh yes, and then, as soon as she got out of this collar, she was going to _kill_him. He was going to be the second person that she actually wanted to kill with all her being. Then she was going to destroy half of the Jewel so it couldn't reform inside someone else. She would never forgive the Jewel for this. This was the ultimate betrayal. She could have forgiven the Jewel for the three years of her life that she had lost, heck; she could have even forgiven the Jewel for sending her to this world, eventually. But taking all her freedom away for no reason, no, there was **no** forgiveness for this.

"Now, just to make things clear," Itachi said as he started to walk in a circle around her, looking her over for any signs of damage from the fight. "You now belong to me. Your life is in my hands. You don't go anywhere I don't know about; you don't do anything I don't approve of. Am I clear?" Itachi asked coldly as he once again stood in front of her.

Kagome glared at him, and then spit in his face. Itachi's rage grew. She dared challenge him even now?! He had complete control over her, and she still challenged him!

"You may control my body now, but I'll find a way out of this. This isn't the first time I've had my body taken over. And when this necklace is off, the first thing I'm going to do is kill you in the most painful way I can. You and the Jewel both. I might even have my brother resurrect you, so I can kill you again until I tire of it. After that, I'll hand you over to him. Anything I can do to you, he can make it hurt a thousand times worse," Kagome told him simply. She didn't need to threaten him, because it wasn't a threat; it was a promise. "And he'll do it all with a smirk. Any demon in this world, he could kill with them at the peak of their power with just a flick of his wrist. The demons here are newborn babies compared to him."

Itachi narrowed his eyes. Now she was threatening him. Did this girl have no sense of self-preservation?

"We will see. Now follow me," Itachi demanded. And like an obedient lost puppy she followed, trying to stop every step of the way, and glaring at him and the Jewel at her neck.

Itachi pondered her threat, and couldn't help but wonder who her brother was. Was he really that strong?

"Sesshomaru? Heck yeah! The demons here aren't that powerful. Though, he may have to put a little more effort into it than a flick of his wrist."

'Hn. The well to that world is closed; he couldn't come here if he wanted to. I have nothing to worry about from him.' The Jewel remained silent. 'The portal does still have a barrier on it, doesn't it?' Itachi questioned the Jewel sternly.

"_Well, it takes a lot of energy to hold up a barrier that Kagome can't destroy from so far away," _Bob complained._ "So, when she was at least a day away, I let the barrier drop. So, __**technically**__, he __**could**__ come here, since I left the portal open," _the Jewel said in a slow way, afraid of what Itachi would do.

'…'

"_Itachi?"_

'Why didn't you say she had such a brother before you came up with this plan?' Itachi asked calmly in his mind.

"_Well, I didn't want you chickening out. Trust me, Sesshomaru's not a guy you want to meet in a dark alley. More girly-looking than you, with an even bigger ego. He's killed people because he didn't want to breathe the same air as them. Though you are powerful, with him just coming into full adult maturity a couple of months ago, you wouldn't stand a snowball's chance in heck. Though, he does have a soft spot for his little ward, Rin, and Kagome's belly rubs," _Bob commented.

'I'll be sure to remember that,' Itachi commented dryly. 'What type of demon is he?'

"_Inu-Taiyouki. And he's royalty. He's Lord of the Western Lands. But I don't think you have anything to worry about. He's too dignified to go jumping down a well. And he's busy courting another Inu-demoness from the north. So he's not going to be looking for Kagome," _the Jewel assured him_._

Itachi and Kagome met up with Kisame a little ways down the road.

Kisame took a good long look at the both of them. Itachi had holes everywhere in his cloak, with his arm bleeding pretty badly for the size of the cut, and looking smug. Kagome was glaring at Itachi for all her worth, not saying a word. And he could have sworn that he saw some of Itachi's hair on the back of his head start to, ever so slightly, shrivel like it was by an open flame.

Taking a closer look at Kagome he noticed her new neck accessory, which resembled his own to a great degree. He almost smirked at the irony of it all. He opened his mouth to say something, but one glare from the corner of Kagome's eye and he just knew that he would lose five years off his life if he said a word. Even Itachi couldn't glare like that.

The rest of the day was spent in a deadly silence. Kisame personally thought that the tension in the air was worse than two elite ninjas with deadly intent for one another. Kisame didn't dare talk. Kagome was trying her best to glare a hole right through the back of Itachi's head. Itachi… he just ignored her attempts.

Finally, Itachi came to a stop, and they set up camp. No-one spoke as they all did their part that was becoming a routine. When Kagome started passing out the ramen, she suddenly seemed slightly happy. But a happy that scared Kisame.

Passing out the ramen cups, Kagome felt a wave of satisfaction wash over her as Itachi took his cup. He was still smug about earlier. He thought because of this rosary, she couldn't touch him. He _so_ had no idea how women get even. They don't usually do physical pay back, oh no, they were _much, much_ worse. They did little things, and played with their enemy's mind. A woman could find even the smallest of glitches in something if she put her mind to it.

Kagome went to eating her ramen and waiting. Glancing at Itachi from the corner of her eyes, she sees him eat the ramen. Good. It shouldn't take long now.

Kisame watched the two nervously. Something had just happened. She hadn't poisoned Itachi, because he would have noticed the poison with his eyes. So what did she do?

Kagome finished her ramen, and quietly took out some of her bottled tea, starting to sip it quietly. Yes, this should start the progress of making Itachi regret doing this to her. She cared about what he said; no-one owns her.

After Kagome had finished her tea, she went to her sleeping bag and got inside. "Have a good night, Kisame." Kagome ignored Itachi entirely. She knew he wasn't going to have a good night.

As soon as she had finished this thought Itachi disappeared out of camp. Good, it worked in large doses. It was a good thing she had brought all of her payback items that she was going to use on Inuyasha. Though she'd doubted that she was going to be mean enough to use the ex-lax like that against Inuyasha, she had brought it just in case. But Itachi, he deserved it.

Itachi came back after half an hour looking extremely pale. He didn't know what that witch had done to him, but he _was_ going to make her pay. He couldn't prove it was her, but he knew it was her who had done it; he just knew it.

Ignoring Kisame's questioning look, he walked over to Kagome's sleeping bag. He glared at her still form that had a satisfied smile even in her sleep.

Oh yes, she did it. Itachi grinned. Fine, if that's the way she was going to be, he would make this miserable for her, too. He would pretty much ignore her once they got to base, and if leader needed her to do something, he would make her do it. Now, though, now he would make sure she was uncomfortable with his power over her.

The next morning, Kagome woke up earlier than normal. She had to set her plan into action. Getting the water, Kagome came back, and cooked breakfast for her and Kisame. 'Accidentally' burning Itachi's almost to a crisp, and dropping it on the ground before she put it back on the plate after a minute of being distracted, she and Kisame ate their breakfast. When Itachi woke up he did his normal half-walk, half-stagger to the nearest river. When Kisame heard an almost girlish shout of pain, he took off to the river where Itachi was.

When he got there, he was too shocked to do anything for a second. There was Itachi, holding his eyes, tears coming from the corners and running down the side of his cheeks. When he opened them to look at Kisame, they were red, but not the Sharingan red, irritated red. Searching for attacking nin, Kisame stayed on guard with a firm grip on his sword. Then he heard Itachi grumbling with killer intent dripping off his voice.

"That wench! I'm going to kill her! I don't know what she did, but it was her!" Itachi started to talk to himself.

Kisame, seeing that it was just something that Kagome had done to Itachi, lowered his guard. Releasing his grip on his sword, he hesitantly walked over to Itachi.

"Itachi, are you going to be okay?" Kisame asked, not sure what to do.

"I'm going to kill her!" Itachi said as he stood up. Storming back to camp with something irritating his eyes, he didn't see the thick stick that was set up right in the path now. Kisame saw the stick a moment to late, and tried to stop Itachi from stepping on it. When Itachi stomped on the stick, it shot directly up and nailed him. Falling to the side and curling up, Itachi promised that today Kagome was going to regret the day she was born.

After ten minutes of waiting, Kagome got bored. Itachi had probably stepped on the stick by now, and was plotting her demise. 'Serves him right,' Kagome thought smugly.

Kagome had put up a mind barrier so the Jewel couldn't invade her mind and warn Itachi of any of the things she was going to do to him. She was also already trying to find ways around the rosary.

Itachi had said that _she_ wasn't allowed to hurt him. He said _nothing_ about _carelessly_ leaving a barrier that contained bleach and which she could let drop at anytime upstream, _decorating_ the forest with carefully placed sticks with thorns on them, or adding the wrong herb into his food. No, she wasn't allowed to _hurt_ him.

After another ten minutes of waiting, Kagome had already packed up camp, and was ready to go. Sitting on a nearby log, she waited for her companions to arrive. After another five minutes, Kagome heard some rustling in the forest. Kisame came out of the trees first, followed by a very P.O.'ed Itachi. Itachi had on a calm mask, but Kagome could tell by his aura that he was one step away from snapping.

Kagome beamed a smile at them. "Are you guys ready to go yet? Your breakfast is over there, Itachi, you can eat while we walk. We're almost to the base, according to what you told me a couple of days ago. So, let's get a move on," Kagome said, smiling, then walking back to the road.

Kisame looked at Itachi to see if he was going to kill Kagome. He looked more calm than usual. Considering what had happened, this might be worse for Kagome than if he had shown his anger.

Itachi took his breakfast, and his eye twitched. It was burnt belong eating capability, and he was pretty sure that was a worm moving in it. Dumping it in a nearby bush, he followed Kagome.

"Kagome, you will walk beside me for the rest of the day," Itachi ordered. She stopped in her tracks until he was right beside her. He didn't want her to be able to set up any more traps for him. His eyes still burned from whatever she did to that water, not even mentioning what she did to him with the stick on the ground. But the worst thing of it all was that he couldn't **prove **it was her. There could have been something in the water that she didn't put there, and he couldn't really make a convincing argument out of a stick on the ground, convenient as the location and timing was. She was a tricky one. He was going to have to be on guard from now on around her.

The day started out quietly, but Kagome eventually began talking to Kisame. She started to talk about the feudal era and some of the battles she had been in. Secretly, Itachi was impressed at what all she had done. She'd had no training at all before her adventures had started; under the circumstances she had grown up in until then, she should have been more worried about breaking a nail than when the next demon was going to try and attack her group. Slowly, this girl was gaining his respect.

"_She is a very unique woman," _Bob commented in his head.

'Indeed.'

"_Did you know that she has had at least four suitors at once?"_ Bob asked off hand.

'Who?' Itachi demanded firmly.

"_Why do you care? Besides, that's Kagome's __**personal**__ life. It's not my place to tell you about it,"_ Bob told him smugly.

'…'

"_Just so you know,_"the Jewel drawled out._ "You shouldn't read her diary. I'm sure she has it all written down in there. How she met them, who they are, what she thinks of them. Kagome's true thoughts on things, all in one black book that she keeps safe with a cheap lock. But that would be an invasion of her personal life, so you shouldn't read 'that' book,"_ Bob finished innocently.

Itachi thought back to when he was going through Kagome's bag, looking for any weapons. There was a black book with a small lock. There was also a photo album. He would look through those when they got to base, which should be around mid-day.

Kagome stopped talking to Kisame when she saw the gates to an old run-down town. Looking around, Kagome compared the buildings to the ones in her time. They looked just slightly strange, but had the same overall design.

Turning down one of the alleys, they came to a dead end. Biting his thumb so that it bled slightly, Kisame placed it on one of the lower bricks. As the blood seeped into the brick, a door appeared to the side of them.

"Kagome, you are to stay behind me, and not say a word unless I approve," Itachi commanded Kagome. She wanted to spit at him again, but knew that here it would be best to do what he says. Nodding, Kagome got behind him. It wasn't like she had much of a choice anyways.

Itachi started to walk down the narrow hallway, followed by Kagome, then Kisame. Stopping after a while, Itachi turned left, and faced the wall. Holding up his hand, he pressed the ring into a crack in the wall. A door opened out of the wall when he took it out. Walking down that hallway, they came into what looked like a living room - it had couches, two TVs, a table, and other things that one would find in a living room, at least.

They continued into one of the doors out of the room and into another hallway. Coming to a door at the end of the hallway, Itachi stopped and knocked.

"Come in," came a voice from inside. Itachi opened the door, and walked inside.

"Itachi, Kisame, good… you're back. Who is that?" the Leader asked. Kagome couldn't see his face, because it was covered in shadows.

Itachi spoke up. "We were successful on our mission," Itachi said as he pulled out the camera. He hesitated slightly in giving Leader the camera because of the embarrassing picture of him on there.

"So, who is she?" Leader asked again.

"Her name is Kagome. I believe that her special, _talents_, could help us."

"You don't say, so what are these talents?"

Itachi went on to explain what Kagome was, where she was from, and, most importantly, what she could do.

"How do you know that she isn't some enemy ninja? Do you have proof that she is indeed from another world?" Leader inquired.

Itachi explained about how she had tried to hide where she was from and get back to the portal, how scared she was went she was found out, and how the Jewel had been talking to him.

The Leader looked at Itachi like he was crazy when he started about the Jewel. That was, until the Jewel started to talk to him also. The Leader grinned after what seemed like an hour of him mentally talking with the Jewel.

"Okay, I believe you, Itachi. Kagome, welcome to this world." Kagome smiled at him. "I've also heard how you have Kisame on a leash of sorts, and how Itachi has you on a leash." Kagome glared at Itachi. "Itachi, I would like to speak to Kagome in private. So, if you would wait outside and allow her to talk, it would be welcomed," Leader ordered.

Itachi narrowed his eyes. Why would Leader need to talk to Kagome in private? But nodding his head he lifted the command and left the room to wait outside.

The Leader looked Kagome over for a minute, then he smiled slightly at her. "Your name is Kagome, correct?" Kagome had a guarded expression on but nodded. "Oh come now, I'm not going to kill you. I'm offering you a job." Kagome's expression didn't change. "I have talked it over with the Shikon Jewel, and it has informed me of your powers and what you can and can't do. I'm not going to send you out on missions unless they have something to do with the nine tail demons. Besides that, you'll stay here and make meals and help clean up around the base. This won't go without pay, of course. You'll be paid the same amount as everyone else here, and have your own room. Though, you'll have to share with Itachi until your room is prepared. All the other members will be informed of your background, and you will receive a package with all the others' backgrounds within a couple of days. You are not to leave the base without one of the other members accompanying you. If you do, then you'll be stuck outside, because you don't have a key to get back in. Do I make myself clear?" Kagome nodded.

"Are there any questions you would like to ask?" Kagome nodded again. "Then, speak."

"Do I have to wear one of the tacky cloaks?" Kagome asked with a grin. Leader grinned back from the shadows. Yes, Kagome would fit in just fine here.

"No, those are for ninja members only. You are not a member, so you don't have to wear as you said 'the tacky cloaks'," Leader said. "Please inform Itachi about the room arrangements," he continued, before going back to his paperwork… which he was secretly doodling along the side of.

Closing the door behind her, Kagome came face to face with Itachi. His face was emotionless, but she could tell he was silently demanding to know what happened.

"He told me I'm to make the meals, help with the cleaning, and occasionally go on a mission. And, until better room arrangements can be made, I'm bunking with you," Kagome told him. He nodded, turned around, and started to lead her to what she could only believe would be where she would be sleeping for now.

Leading her back into the living room, he went through another door that led to a wide hallway that had many doors on both sides. Stopping at the one at the end that had a small sucker-looking symbol on it, he opened the door to show a room.

Itachi's room was very clean and well organized. There didn't seem to be one thing out of place. She should have known that his room would look like this. There was a desk up against the wall, a highboy dresser, a full sized bed in the corner of the room, and a window for lighting. Opposite the bed there was what Kagome believed to be a sliding door closet. Looking around the room, she noticed a very important fact.

"There's only one bed," Kagome pointed out not, really believing it. She dropped her bag by the dresser.

"Indeed," Itachi said, as he pulled off his cloak.

She looked at him. "But where are you going to sleep?" Kagome asked.

Itachi raised an eyebrow. Was she suggesting he sleep on the floor? "I will sleep on my bed," Itachi informed her. Opening up the sliding doors, he hung the cloak in the closet.

"Okay, then where am I going to sleep?" Kagome asked.

"On a bed."

"…" Kagome didn't speak. "That's not going to work," Kagome said finally, not looking at him.

Looking over at her, he saw her trying to hide her blush. He smirked. So she was uncomfortable with sleeping in the same bed. This would be a great way to get back at her. He was going to get her a spare cot, but if she was _this_ uncomfortable with it, then they would share.

"Can I have my I-pod back yet?" Kagome asked, changing the subject.

Itachi nodded, and handed it to her. It had long since gone dead. Walking over to his dresser he rearranged it so that the bottom two drawers were empty. "You may use these two drawers," Itachi informed her.

Kagome nodded, and started to put her clothing in them. Itachi watched her unpack while leaning up against the door. He noticed her leave all her other things in her bag. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of the book he was going to read later in her bag before she closed it up.

She turned back to him when she was done, and he nodded. "I'll show you the rest of the base. Follow me," he said, before walking out of the room, fully expecting that she would follow. Which she did.

He showed her where the kitchen was first, since that was where she was going to have to cook. Then he showed her where the hot springs were. Surprisingly enough, there was a separate one for women as well. He told her not to go into the others' bedrooms, and to not bother the leader unless necessary.

While Itachi was showing her around, Kagome began to wonder where the other members were. She hadn't seen any except Kisame, who was in the kitchen making a sandwich. Not having any other choice, she was forced to ask Itachi. She didn't even know how many there were.

Itachi seemed to think it over for a moment. "There are currently nine members of the Akatsuki, including the leader. Most of them are on missions at the moment. We are hardly ever at base for long periods of time. But Deidara and Sasori should be arriving back later tonight. It would be in your best interest to avoid Sasori. He will, in all likelihood, try and make you into a human puppet if given the chance," Itachi informed her while continuing to walk ahead of her.

"Like I'm not one already," Kagome mumbled, but Itachi still caught it.

Itachi came to a halt in front of the kitchen. "Yes, but, with me, you're still alive," Itachi said with an emotionless voice.

"Fine, anything else you need to show me, or can I go start dinner?" Kagome asked, annoyed.

Itachi narrowed his eyes. "You may go." Itachi watched as she turned around, and walked to the kitchen to prepare dinner. She still challenged him every chance she got. Shrugging it off for later, he went to his room to wait for dinner.

End Chapter.

**So how many of you were expecting _that_? I think I did a good job of not giving it a way. Or at least I hope I did. So please if you liked it or have any ideas that I could use please send them to me. I can't promise that I will use them but you never know. ;)**

**-Probs**


	7. The Little Black Book

Yo, I'm back. Please don't throw any sharp shiny objects at me. But I'm a couple days late with this chapter so I'm sorry. the next two chapters maybe a little bit late too. So I apologize ahead of time for that.

Now in this chapter Deidara and Sasori finally come in. B) If anyone is ooc I am sorry but it's to late to fix now. So please just try and enjoy this chapter.

I thank any and all reviewers and my wonderful beta reader kawaiichibishun, who works for me between studying and her fav. tv series. I also want to give a shout out to those who gave me some great prank ideas. You know who you are.

Disclaimer: Isn't it obvious? I don't own anything in this story. even most of the words belong to the dictionaries. I only own stealing them and jumbling them together to make a story.

**Chapter Seven: The Little Black Book**

Kagome walked into the kitchen after she had been _dismissed _from Itachi. She was still ticked off about him ordering her around. Yes, Kagome was angry, but she would get him back for it.

On the more positive side, she now knew that he wouldn't be here most of the time. That was a plus. He would be gone on missions, and she would only go on the ones with demons involved. Perhaps she would get along better with the other members of the Akatsuki. She hoped so; it would really suck if she only got along with Kisame.

Not that she didn't like Kisame. Not in the least. She could already tell that he would probably end up being her best friend in this new world. He reminded her of Inuyasha. But, you know, without the dog ears and more… well… blue and fishy looking.

Speaking of whom, Kagome looked up from her musing to see Kisame finishing his sandwich. Smiling a true bright smile, she walked up to him.

"Hey, Kisame."

"Hey, Kagome. So has Itachi shown you around?" he asked while chewing on the last bite of his sandwich.

"Yep, we just got done. I was just going to let you know I'll call you when dinner's ready," she told him. "And I don't want you coming into the kitchen at all times of the night and raiding the fridge. This is going to be my kitchen now, and I can't have you or anybody else constantly messing it up all the time," Kagome told him playfully, but still with a serious edge.

Kisame smiled at her. He was going to have real food to eat tonight, not the stuff that the other guys attempted to make edible. "Okay, I'll try and remember that, but it will be hard to break the habit. I'll probably be in the living room, watching T.V., if you need me." Kisame walked out of the kitchen.

Once Kisame had left, Kagome turned around and inspected the kitchen. It looked very well organized. She hoped she didn't mess anything up.

Looking in awe of the cleanness of the kitchen - besides where Kisame had left bread crumbs - she didn't notice when two people walked into it. Opening the closest cabinet, Kagome gave a slight shout of joy when she saw spaghetti noodles and sauce right next to each other. Putting them on the counter, she closed the cabinet. Turning around to look for a pot, she was almost as shocked to see the two men as they were to see her.

"Oh, um, hi. I'm Kagome." Kagome held out her hand. They just looked at it. "Erm… okay." She let her hand drop after they just looked at her funny. "Do you guys like spaghetti?" she asked awkwardly, not sure what to say for once.

They nodded their heads slightly, not really sure what to do themselves. It wasn't every day that you came home from a mission to see a woman you didn't know asking if you liked pasta.

While waiting for them to say something, she looked the men over. One of them looked to be a twelve-year-old with bright, flame-red hair. And the second looked to be in his late teens or early twenties, with long blonde hair covering one of his eyes. Both of them were wearing that awful cloak. Really, red usually looked _good_ with black. How the heck did these morons manage to mess it up?

"Okay, I'll call you in, or I'll have Kisame get you for dinner when it's ready," she told them after a minute of them not saying anything, and went back to getting dinner ready.

Deidara and Sasori just stood there for a minute. There was a _woman_ in the Akatsuki's base making them _dinner_. There was a woman who _wasn't_an Akatsuki member in their _secret base_ making them dinner…How did she get in here? Was she, like, a new maid or something? Deciding to get the answers to their questions, they went to turn in their report to Leader and to ask him about the new girl. After all, he _should_ know if there was supposed to be a new maid or something. Right?

When Kagome had heard them leave the room, she let out the breath she had been holding. They wouldn't stop staring at her, and it had been getting a little creepy. She knew one of them was the Sasori person – the human-puppet maker that Itachi had warned her about. While she might despise Itachi, she wasn't about to turn down a helpful warning in a base full of killers.

Kagome had to look through two more cabinets before she found a usable pot big enough for the pasta. The other pots she located were bent horribly, dirty, and a few even had holes in them. Their poor condition made Kagome a little bit wary about what all these people did.

Bringing the pot to the sink, she started the water, and went looking for a strainer. After a minute, she returned to the sink, and brought the now-full pot of water to the stove, turning it on. It would take a while for the water to boil, so she _should_ have enough time to find the strainer.

As it turned out, though, her first opinion of the kitchen was completely wrong. The kitchen was a complete _disaster_. How did these people find anything? It seemed like, if they were feeling up to it, they washed the dishes, and shoved them in any place they could. If they weren't… they were just shoved in somewhere, regardless of how clean. (Kagome's assessment was exactly what they did, as a matter of fact.) Then, they kept the counters clean just for the looks of it. (Again, exactly what they did.)

Kagome looks around at the kitchen. While it looked clean and well-kept on the outside, on the inside of the cabinets was a disaster area. She wouldn't be surprised if something tried to eat her hand while she reached in there. It was a miracle in itself that she was able to find what she needed in the first place!

Tomorrow, she would have to organize all the kitchen items, if she was going to be working here regularly. Then she would have to ask Leader for new kitchen appliances. The ones she was left with just wouldn't cut it.

Finding a barstool, she sat down and began to wait for the water to boil. She had found the strainer underneath some molding bread, and had to severely scrub the thing before she even thought about using it.

**With Itachi**

Itachi had gone back to his room to wait for dinner. There wasn't much to do around base, so usually around this time, he slept and trained. But there was something he had to do this time. Going over to Kagome's bag, he opened it and took out the black book and photo album. Setting them on his bed, he took off his mission gear and put on more casual clothing. Now in just a plain black T-shirt and black pants, he sat on his bed, and got ready for some reading.

When he was comfortably situated on his bed, he picked up the black book first, and looked it over. It was all black and had the wording 'a good listener is usually thinking about something else' written in a silver flowing script on the front cover. Silently agreeing with the saying, he went on to inspecting the lock. Pulling out a small lock pick, he started to work on the lock. Not more than a few seconds later, the lock snapped open, and he pulled it off and set it aside.

Bob had been right. It was a cheap lock for someone's secrets and personal thoughts. He would never write in something with so little protection from prying eyes.

Opening the book, he saw the entry page.

_What you are about to read, you can chose to believe is all just a fantasy that I made up in math class, or you can chose to believe it - and get sent to an insane asylum if you tell people about it. Either way, the choice is yours. But whoever you are, if you're reading this while I am still alive, (Yes, this includes you Inuyasha, Kouga, Sesshomaru, Miroku, and Souta.) I will find out who you are, and I will kill you. I am Kagome Higurashi, and this is my horribly messed up life. I will start my story at the age of fifteen. Before that is just a boring life of me being raised on a shrine in Tokyo. But this is where my real story begins._

Itachi read about her first encounter with the well, how she had met Inuyasha, and about her rubbing his dog-like ears. (She wrote a lot about him.) He noticed her writing got deeper as she told about how, at first, he wouldn't stop calling her Kikyo. She seemed to get really mad about that. But she wasn't as mad about him trying to kill her the second he got free. She wrote about how she found it funny that Kaede put a rosary on him, and then she used the sit command for the first time. He now knew why she had yelled out 'sit' in the morning when he had tried to wake her up.

When he had awoken her, she had believed he was this 'Inuyasha' person, and was trying to make him become well-acquainted with the ground.

She went on to explain about the Shikon Jewel and how it had been ripped from her side. She told about her first and second battle with demon, and how she had shattered the Jewel into a million different pieces while trying to recover it when it had been eaten by a crow demon. Then, how she and Inuyasha were made by Kaede to start working together to gather up all the shards.

When writing about her battle with Yura of the Hair, she made some comments about how blind she thought Inuyasha was at first. Then, she went on to explain how she found out about how the well worked, the way Inuyasha came and got her in the middle of dinner with her family, and how they eventually defeated the immortal demon. She wrote a lot about how Inuyasha started using her name. She seemed very intent on this fact.

He was surprised about her first encounter with Sesshomaru and her description of his girly looks and how his hair was better than hers. When she started telling about how the Tegsaiga could only be used in defense of a human, Itachi grew very interested. And she was the one to pull the sword out of the stone, when the two demon brothers couldn't, by accident. Then, she told how Sesshomaru tried to melt her with his not-so-nice, girly, acid-spitting claws. She had put in a side note that the acid smelled so sweet that it was sickening.

She explained how Kikyo was resurrected, and how she only had part of her soul left. And she made it very clear how she _wasn't_Kikyo, in big bold letters. In great detail, she wrote about how bad it feels getting your soul sucked out. She gave an example by saying it felt like someone had shoved their fist down her throat, grabbed her lungs, and started trying to rip them out.

After a couple more adventures, she wrote about her not feeling that she was as good as Kikyo was, and how she would always just be second best to her. Inuyasha was constantly comparing her with her past life, and complaining about her lack of training, but willing to do nothing about it.

She went on about her different adventures in the feudal era. When he got to Shippo, he was amused that the trick that was used against him was originally used on the half demon. It was much more amusing that way. Then, she told of the thunder demon brothers, and how she got out of being made into a hair concoction by her lie. He could hardly believe that the brothers had fallen for the trick.

Hearing someone walking down the hall, Itachi quickly checked where Kagome was by searching for her miko powers. She was still in the kitchen preparing dinner. He also noticed that Deidara and Sasori were talking to Leader, no doubt asking about Kagome. It must have been shocking to go into the kitchen for a quick bite to eat, and see a smiling girl making them dinner - in a base full of bloodthirsty killers, no less. Which left Kisame going to his room next door.

Going back to the book, he had a side thought that Kagome's life would make a great novel. Continuing on, he read about how they met the worldly monk Miroku. Itachi's eye twitched when he read about the monk. This monk could rival Jiraiya on how perverted he was. But, not only was the guy a pervert, he was a con artist on top of it all.

He was about to continue reading, when he heard someone coming down the hall again. Checking to see who it was, Itachi sensed that, this time, it was Kagome. Quickly snapping the lock back on the book, he grabbed the photo album and put them both back into her bag. Turning back around, he laid back down on his bed.

Itachi heard Kagome softly knock on the door. "Come in," he said in a bored voice.

**With Kagome**

Kagome poked her head inside the door frame. Itachi was sprawled sleepily on his bed. Kagome hoped that Itachi was just tired, and this place wasn't so boring that this was what you were reduced to doing for fun. But, then again, she couldn't really see Itachi doing anything besides torturing people for 'fun'.

"Hey, dinner is ready," she said, before going back down the hall, leaving the door partway open. Itachi nodded, and got off the bed. Walking over to the door, he opened it the rest of the way, closing it behind him as he left. He made his way to the dinning room, and saw that the rest of the members who were currently at base were already seated. Walking over to an empty seat next to Kisame, he sat down.

Kagome walked out of the kitchen with a pot of spaghetti a few minutes later. Setting it down on the middle of the table, she went back into the kitchen, and came back with a sliced loaf of bread on a platter and a serving bowl of hot spaghetti sauce. Setting them down, she put serving spoons in the spaghetti and sauce. She had left the sauce plain, though, because she wasn't sure what the various Akatsuki liked.

Looking at everyone, she sighed. They were silently staring at the food in wonder, except for Itachi, who was staring at it emotionlessly, but staring nonetheless.

'It's like I put a pot of gold on the table,' she thought with a sweatdrop.

All of them only had one thought going through their minds at that moment, 'This is_real_ food.'

"I'll be insulted if you guys kept staring at it until it gets cold. Dish yourself out some, and pass it to the person next to you, already. It's how most people around a table eat." Kagome said it slowly, as if she was explaining to little children. Then, she took a seat between Kisame and Deidara. While she didn't feel that comfortable sitting next to Deidara, she wanted to sit next to someone she knew. And she _sure_wasn't going to sit next to Itachi. And since Itachi had taken the seat to the other side of Kisame, she was stuck with where she was.

Kisame didn't need to be told a second time. His hands shot out at the food, as if he was afraid that it would disappear at any moment. (He was.)

When she saw Kisame taking out a good amount of the food, Kagome was happy she made more than she thought she would need. He took more than Inuyasha usually did, and that was saying something. He passed the pot to Kagome, and she took out enough for herself before passing it down the table to Deidara.

Deidara stared at the food for a moment, as if making sure it wasn't going to randomly jump out, and eat him. Poking it with the spoon, he waited. Then, seeing no danger in it, he dished himself some, and passed it across to Sasori.

Sasori just passed the bowl to Itachi without touching the food. Kagome, seeing this, decided to ask if he was all right. It wasn't right for him to not eat anything. Unless… he was trying to insult her in some way. Then, she might have to start shoving the food down his throat. If there was one thing that Kagome couldn't stand, it was people rejecting her cooking. Inuyasha would know all about that.

"Hey, are you okay?" Kagome asked him, concerned. Sasori looked at her for a moment. This was coming from the girl that Leader said came from a different world, could kill demons with the slightest tap of the tip of her pinkie finger, and had battled it out with the demons in her world that were more powerful than the ones here. And she was asking him if he was all right, like a worried mother, because he didn't eat. She couldn't possibly be the same girl that Leader had informed them about. Nope, this was defiantly the new maid, and Leader was simply playing a trick on them so they didn't kill her within the week, like the last one. That had to be it.

"I am fine," he replied lazily.

Kagome narrowed her eyes a little. "Then why aren't you eating?" she questioned.

"My body doesn't need food," he told her.

"Oh." Kagome looked surprised. "Why not? Even demons need food. So what are you?" Kagome asked, truly curious.

"I have made my body into a puppet," he told her simply.

Kagome nodded her head as if she was used to these types of answers. "Oh, well then, could you please dish up a plate for Leader, and bring it to him?" she asked politely. Sasori nodded and did as asked. He didn't really want to be in the same room as her. Not that he believed that she was a mass demon killing machine. Not at all. Really.

Looking over at the person next to her, she took a good look at him. He had long blond hair pulled up in a ponytail, with his bangs covering one eye. His visible eye was a pretty greenish blue color that seemed different shades depending on what the lighting was. He had a face that showed he smiled a lot. Overall he was pretty handsome.

"Well like I said before, my name's Kagome. What's yours?" Kagome asked, trying to start a polite conversation.

"Deidara," he said looking at her warily, as if he was afraid she would become hostile at any moment, and tear him limb from limb.

"Well it's nice to meet you, Deidara," Kagome said, putting forth her hand. Deidara hesitantly shook it. The table fell into a silence once again.

Kisame, tired of the silence, and now knowing that the food wouldn't magically disappear on him if he stopped eating it for a moment, decided to break the silence for Kagome.

"This is really good, Kagome."

"Indeed," Itachi agreed.

Kagome beamed at them. "Thanks, but, later, I'll need you all to tell me what you like, so I'll know what to make when you're here," she said.

"I like fish dishes," Kisame said, while snapping his jaws playfully at her. "You could say it runs in the family."

Kagome could understand. He said he came from a place that had a lot of water, and he was part shark demon, so it was only natural that he would like fish. He probably also liked his steak rare, she guessed.

"Beef," Itachi said, before going back to eating.

As Kagome turned to Deidara with an expectant look, he told her that he liked pasta dishes. Smiling at him, she started to try and make conversation once again.

"So, what do you guys do around here for fun?" she asked.

Kisame shrugged. "I mostly watch TV and train when I'm not sleeping or healing." Itachi didn't say anything.

"Okay, what about you Deidara?"

"I like making sculptures, yeah," he said, slowly getting over how much power she had, according to Leader, and seeing that she wasn't going to suddenly turn into a mass murder and kill them all. She didn't show any sign of hostility toward them so far, so he might as well try and get on her good side.

"Really? What do you create?" she asked in interest.

"Un, mostly birds. But I do some other things as well. Art is a bang," he told her, smiling.

"Could you show me them sometime?" she asked hopefully. "I tried my hand at sculpture when I was in school, but just didn't have the talent needed."

Deidara smiled and nodded, agreeing to let her see some of his work. The new girl wasn't so bad. She was a great cook, she was friendly, and she took an interest in his artwork. Yeah, he could get used to the new girl.

After dinner, Kagome told them to just put their plates in the sink, and she would wash them after she got Leader's plate. They did as instructed, and Kagome went to get Leader's plate. When she arrived at the door, she saw the empty plate on the floor. Smiling, she picked it up, and went back to the kitchen to do the dishes. Something told her that the plate would be sitting outside of the door most of the time.

**With Itachi**

Itachi had headed back to his room after dinner, wanting to get back to the book. Kagome's life was very interesting. With every adventure she faced, he found himself having a little bit more respect for her. She had started out weak and helpless in a world she didn't know, and, while she still had protection from her friends, she was usually the one to come up with an idea to save the group in the end.

His respect for her grew even more when she wrote about how she had to keep a double life, and study while traveling, to keep her options open for after they completed the Shikon Jewel. She was smart enough to have a backup plan in both worlds in case something were to happen. She was thinking ahead.

Reaching his room, he closed the door behind him, and locked it. That way, if he became too distracted by his reading, he would know when Kagome was at the door. She didn't need to know he was invading her secret thoughts.

Getting the books back out of the bag, he picked the lock again, and found where he had left off. As he read deeper into the night, he became increasingly angry at the half-demon Inuyasha. The dog knew what Kagome felt for him, yet he would always get mad when she would leave after him seeing Kikyo. Then, the mutt had the audacity to comment on how Kikyo could do something better without even trying. After a while, he would apologize, and give her hope of a relationship, only to crush the girl's hope time after time.

Now, he wasn't giving sympathy to Kagome herself. It was sad that anyone would go through that. But it was partly Kagome's own fault for hanging on that long. She should have opened her eyes to the fact that Inuyasha wouldn't be able to give up his past love. They were both at fault, and shouldn't have let it get as far as it did.

The more he read, the more he came to realize that this girl could make a friend out of almost anyone. All of her traveling companions either tried to kill her or steal from her the first time they met. When Itachi thought about it, she had made friends with Kisame already, and he had tried attacking her the first time he saw her, too. Did people just instantly hate her on sight or something?

Then, he came to Kouga. He was ticked about his claims of Kagome being his woman. Ha! He would like to see him say that now. He owned Kagome now, and he wasn't going to give her to flea bitten wolf that lives in a _cave_. The wolf probable ate his own fleas in the winter to keep from starving. Not to mention he probably had some type of rabies, and all sorts of incurable diseases.

Then, he read that Kagome thought that Kouga was extremely hot. He almost stormed out of the room to tell Kagome that she belonged to him, and she wasn't to ever look at another male besides him as long as she lived. But knowing that would give away what he had been doing, he calmed down enough that he wouldn't kill anyone, and forced himself to read some more. He calmed down considerably more when he read that Kouga wasn't her type, though.

After her writing explained, in great detail, about Naraku, he took note that he seemed a lot like Orochimaru. They both manipulated people with false power, and when they were done with them, they deposed of them without hesitation or remorse. Both were obsessed with changing their own bodies and stealing others'.

It was almost nine at night when he heard a small explosion. He ignored it. It was probably just Deidara training. After hearing it a couple more times, Itachi realized that the sound wasn't coming from the training grounds. Snapping the book shut and putting it away, with the lock back on, he grabbed his weapon pouch, and went out into the hallway to see what it was.

Walking up the hall, he could hear laughter coming from Deidara's room. As he got closer to the door, he saw it was left opened. Peering inside, he saw Kagome looking at Deidara's sculptures, which he was eagerly showing her.

Deidara showed her another bird, which he made fly in the air, before making a tiny red explosion. Kagome smiled excitedly, and asked him how he did it. He showed her how his hands worked, and the tiny mouths on them. She examined them happily, and told him that what he could do was amazing. He would smile at her in a way that Itachi didn't like. In fact, he didn't like how friendly Kagome was being to Deidara at all. It left a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Deidara saw Itachi out of the corner of his eye, and smirked smugly at him. Itachi knew what that smirk meant, and it irritated him. He had seen many men give it to him, along with glares, back at the village, when they were with their girlfriends. It said that the girl was theirs, and to stay away from her. Deidara was saying Kagome was his.

Itachi glared at him. Kagome was his, and he would prove it. "Kagome." Itachi's voice was stern, and she jumped when she heard it.

She turned around, and looked at him with an emotionless face. He found that he didn't like it on her. "Is there something that you need, Itachi?" she asked, without the joy that was previously in her voice. It was dry sounding compared with her laughter.

"It is time for bed; go to the room," he said. Kagome said goodnight to Deidara over her shoulder as the necklace forced her to follow Itachi's order. After she had left the room, Itachi and Deidara could hear her mumbling that she was "…a grown adult, and don't need a freakin' bed time, or a glaring babysitter, for that matter," as she walked down the hall.

Deidara smiled at her, and said goodnight back. Then he snapped his head back, and glared at Itachi's emotionless face. Deidara had been told about the necklace, and that Itachi could control Kagome. Leader had also told him about how she could do something like it to Kisame, to a lesser degree.

"You know, I don't think that will get you on Kagome's good side - ordering her around like that, un," Deidara said, still glaring at him.

Itachi glared at him. "Why would I care if I were on her good side or not?"

"Oh, then she's not taken, un?" Deidara asked, smirking. "If so, I'd be willing to take her off your hands, yeah. She is a very attractive woman, with a personality that's a bang, yeah." He made a fist as he said it, and spread it apart quickly to show him. "She would make a great mother, should we ever get that far," Deidara said.

Itachi nearly growled at him. He could feel the Shiringan activating. If Kagome had any children at all they would be his! Itachi was absolutely shocked at his own thought. Had he _really_just thought that? But he pushed it out of his head for the moment. He had to deal with Deidara before he thought deeply about that.

He forced himself to focus on the problem at hand. "Kagome is not up for grabs. She belongs to this Uchiha. If you continue to go after Kagome, then you will find yourself unable to have children," Itachi warned him.

Deidara smirked. "I don't think that Kagome would agree with that second statement. I definitely remember her saying that she didn't belong to anyone. Have a good night, Itachi." Deidara said before he shut his door in Itachi's face.

Itachi glared at the door, contemplating whether or not to break it down, and kill the man inside. Knowing it would be more paperwork than he was willing to do, he went back to his room. When he got to the door, he found it was locked. Temper already short from the encounter with Deidara, he was about ready to rip the door off its hinges before he heard Kagome from inside.

"One second, I'm getting into my pajamas," she said. After a minute, the door unlocked, and Kagome opened it to the sight of a ticked off Itachi.

'Jeez, what clawed five feet up in his butt and died?' Kagome thought, looking at him.

Itachi calmly walked into the room, and shut the door behind him. He tossed his weapon pouch at the dresser. Walking over to the bed, he got under the covers, and laid down. Then he turned, and looked at Kagome expectantly.

Kagome didn't know what to do. She really didn't want to share a bed with him. Sighing, she went over to her backpack. She would just have to make do with her sleeping bag until she had her own room. Maybe she could convince the leader to let her bunk in Kisame's room instead until then? At least if she bunked with Kisame, there was a lesser chance of being killed in her sleep, because she was breathing wrong.

Itachi watched how uncomfortable she was, and grinned inside his head. Yes, he still held a grudge against her. Seeing her go over to her pack for her sleeping bag, he spoke up.

"Kagome. Get in bed," he ordered sternly without any real emotion, and watched how she fought against the command. But she couldn't resist the rosary forever, and she came to the bed one step at a time. She jerkily sat and then laid down stiffly on the bed. "Good. Now get under the covers," he ordered. She did as told, and as soon as the necklace stopped controlling her body, she moved over to the edge of the bed.

It was amazing how some people could balance on an inch of bed without falling off. Kagome was currently displaying this exact talent.

Not wanting to see him, she spoke over her shoulder. "You stay on that side, and I'll stay on this side. If you so much as touch me, then you'll find yourself without hands in the morning," she warned him.

Itachi looked at her, amused. Now she was ordering him around? He would let it go for now. He did as told, and pressed his back against the wall, and laid his head down on his pillow.

Soon, he could hear Kagome's even breathing that informed him she was asleep. Thinking about the girl, he could really hardly believe that she was the same girl that went on all the adventure she wrote about in her diary.

Thinking it over carefully, he tried to place his feeling for the girl in front of him. He respected her to a certain degree. Not that he would tell her this information. Also, he let her get away with things he would normally kill a person for. She made him smile a lot; okay, smirking inside his mind a lot, but it equaled out to about the same thing.

Also now he thought about it, he had been terribly out of character tonight. He became possessive of her very easily, something that he had never really done over a woman, or anything for that matter, before. He was willing to rip Deidara's head off just for making her smile. Why should he care if Deidara could make her smile and he couldn't? He didn't really care. But he didn't like the thought of anybody having something that was his. Itachi found himself wanting to make sure she knew that she belonged to him and no one else.

He had been told when he was younger that these were signs of a starting love. But he wasn't in love. He didn't feel his heart flutter, like so many people said it did, when she was around. At the most, she made him frustrated and extremely angry most of the time. He didn't find her to be the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. He had seen plenty of women that men had died for before, and she wasn't one of them. And he knew for sure he wouldn't be willing to die for her.

He knew he didn't love her. He had never really felt love for anything before. But one thing was clear. He wanted her to himself. He didn't want any other male to even so much as look at her, let alone for her look at them. He was a selfish person, and he would willingly admit it.

Itachi didn't like these feelings of jealousy, though. Was it normal to have these with any possession that one has? While he knew he couldn't squash the feelings at the moment, he could stop what made his feel them. And there was only one _reasonable _way he knew how. Kagome was going to be his. Not just him controlling her, but his as in him being the _only _male in her life. He would get Kagome go fall for him, so she wouldn't look at other men. He wanted Kagome to be his, so she would be. Even if she didn't want to be. He had already told her she belonged to him. Now he would just make it crystal clear to her he meant in every way that she was _his_. It couldn't be _that_ hard for one woman to fall for him. Right?

With that final thought in his mind, he let his mind rest and fell asleep.

**End Chapter**

Okay. I know that Itachi was a little Ooc. But I had to start some type of love. Plus I think it's kinda funny. I'm sad there was no Bob in this chapter though. T.T

Please review my story. You don't know how much it means to me. (Unless you too, are an author) And keep sending in prank ideas. I will try and use them somehow if given the chance. She will be pranking _anyone_ not just Itachi so anything will be okay.

-Probs


	8. Be Mine?

Hello people. I don't have much to say about this chapter so yeah. I just hope that people don't kill me at the end of it...

And thank you all for those who reviewed! I hit the two hundred mark! I'm happy about that, but I still only got 24 compared to the normal 35-40. So I'm a little bit sad about that. And thank you to my beta reader for fixing my messes. But I really want to thank those who sent in prank ideas I got some really good ones out of it. And as soon as I get to a good place I will try and use them! (Meaning they wont be in this chapter.)

**Chapter Eight: Be Mine?**

Kagome awoke the next morning completely comfortable. It felt so good to be home in her own bed. Snuggling deeper into her pillow, she noticed how hard it was. When did her pillows get so stiff? A little bit more awake now, she noticed its slight movement. And when did her pillows start breathing?

Kagome's eyes popped open. Snapping her head up so fast that it almost gave her whiplash, she looked to see who her pillow was. And there, breathing peacefully in his sleep, was Itachi. He was actually very handsome, she truly noticed for the first time. Now that he wasn't awake and being a jerk, she could really look him over without getting a death glare. He was actually quite attractive, now that she got a good look at him.

Looking out the window, she saw that it was time to get up. Trying to get up to make breakfast, she soon found a slight problem. Itachi had an arm around her waist that was pulling her up into him. Looking at her own position, she noticed that her leg was over his. Carefully removing said limb, she tried to get out of the sticky situation without waking Itachi up. If he knew what position they were in, she wouldn't have that limb for much longer.

When she tried to lift Itachi's arm, she was just pulled closer. Kagome tried again, more slowly this time, but he just tightened his grip. Her face was now one with his chest. It felt like, if he held her any tighter, she might merge with his skin. Not a very pleasant thought, to be honest. Growing quite angry, she tried to rip the offending limb from herself and shove him off. His arm didn't even budge. He had a grip of steel on her, and he wasn't letting go.

"Stop moving," Itachi ordered. "I'm trying to sleep," he mumbled, before snuggling into the nook of her neck. Kagome blushed a deep red. Here was a man that would make any woman's legs turn to jelly by just looking at them, snuggling into her neck, and going to sleep. Somehow, she could now sort of sympathize with what teddy bears must go through. Those poor, poor things.

Kagome tried to move again, but found that she couldn't even budge. The blasted necklace wouldn't let her. He had ordered her to not move, and now she was stuck like this until Itachi woke up. Knowing that struggling against the rosary would do no good, she went back to sleep.

An hour later, Itachi woke feeling more relaxed than he had in years. Pulling the warmth closer, he got ready to actually fully wake up. Slowly blinking the sleep out of his eyes, he looked down to see Kagome snuggling into his chest. She looked so childlike when she was sleeping. She seemed so fragile, as if at the slightest touch she would break. Placing a hand on the top of her head, he started to feel her long, silky black hair. He could get used to waking to this every morning.

Her hair was very nice. She must have brushed it a lot to get it this soft. Now that he looked close, he could see that her hair had an unusual blue tint in it. But feeling the texture, he could tell that it was natural, not dyed. It reminded him of his little brother's hair. He had the same blue tint.

Deciding to play with her a little, he leaned forward to her ear, and whispered in it. "I believe that you were supposed to stay on your side of the bed?" It was true, too. His back was still against the wall. That meant that either he had pulled her to him, or she had come to him.

Kagome's eyes shot open. She tried to get out of the embrace, but, not only did Itachi still have a steel grip on her, the necklace was still activated. Itachi saw the necklace glow when she tried to move. "I would have gladly already left, if it wasn't for you commanding me to stop moving when I tried to get out of your vise-like grip," Kagome bit out.

Itachi smirked at her. "So… I can command you not to move, and you won't be able to stop anything I do to you," Itachi said with a little mischief in his eyes.

Kagome glared at him. What was he getting at? Before she could think of anything to yell at him about letting her go, he swooped down and kissed her on the lips. Kagome's mind went into lock-down. Mr. 'Everyone but me are worth less than the annoying gum on the bottom of my shoe' was kissing her. He was stealing another one of her kisses, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. The worse thing was, even if she could stop it, she wouldn't have.

Hey, it was her first _real _kiss. And it was with a _hot_ guy that would make any girl turn to a puddle of goo. Then she remembered his personality. Yeah, that part sucked. He really needed to work on it. Like asking before kissing a girl. Then it really clicked in her mind. Her _warden _was kissing her. No longer enjoying the kiss as much as before, she started to get angry. He had no right to kiss her like this! And as soon as it was done, she was going to let him have it.

Itachi pulled away from her lips. That felt good. And it shut her up very quickly. When he saw she was going to start yelling, his attention switched to her lips. Then, without realizing what he was doing, he had started kissing her again. She was still just lying there, too shocked to move. He smirked at her expression.

She wasn't expecting that again so soon. Did she mention that he was a good kisser? Not that she had much experience in the area, this being her first proper experience kissing but _**dang**_, she was pretty sure that he was good.

Itachi started to get up, and Kagome snapped out of her daze. Getting angry, she opened her mouth to yell at him.

"Go get breakfast ready; I'm sure you are late as it is," Itachi said. He watched as she got out of bed, and left the room against her will, still in her PJ's.

Itachi waited until after Kagome was gone to get out a clean set of clothes and make his way to the Hot Springs.

**With Kagome**

To say that Kagome was ticked off would be an understatement. She was furious enough to rip off heads. How dare he kiss her! Was it a habit of his to kiss her when she couldn't do anything or something? That was now three, repeat _three _kisses he had stolen!

Walking into the kitchen, she took out some eggs from the refrigerator. Finding a bowl, she mixed the eggs with some other ingredients to make everyone omelets.

Then he'd had the nerve to tell her that she was late, and needed to get breakfast, like it was her fault she couldn't do it sooner! Oh, she was going to kill that man!

Whisking at the eggs furiously, she didn't notice when Kisame walked into the kitchen. Getting the bright idea to spook her, he snuck up behind her, and poked her on both sides of her waist. She jumped and, turning around, hit him in the face with an egg-goop-covered, miko-charged whisk.

Kisame fell to the ground holding his now slimy cheek. 'That had to burn worse than acid.' Kagome, seeing Kisame slowly getting his face purified, ran over to him. Charging her hand with healing energy, she stopped the purification, and started to heal the damage.

"Don't do that, Kisame; my powers could really hurt you," she said angrily, but still concerned. She grabbed a rag from the counter and wiped the egg off his face.

"What's the matter with you? Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed?" Kisame asked jokingly. When he saw her tense, he knew he hit a nerve.

"Yes! And that stupid egomaniac will pay for what he did!" Kagome said with a vengeance, before going back to beating the eggs. Kisame, seeing his food in danger, tried to calm her down.

"What man? What did he do?" Kisame asked as he started his instant coffee. After it was done, he turned his attention to her. He was pretty sure he knew who it was, but he needed to get the facts right if his food was to survive.

Kagome turned around, and he could see the wrath burning in her eyes. He was just happy it wasn't directed at him. "First!" She held up a finger. "Any _reasonable _gentleman would offer the bed for a lady and sleep on the floor. He refuses to give me the bed, and then orders me to sleep in the same one he's in. We make the agreement to stay on opposite sides of the bed and he agrees. Second!" she held up another finger. "I wake up in a death grip, and he refuses to let go. Then, when I try to get out of it, he orders me to not move, and goes back to sleep! Third!" Three fingers now. "He wakes up telling me how I'm on his side, and then he finds I can't move, and he smirks! Smirks! And if that wasn't bad enough, he kisses me!" Kisame spit the coffee all over.

"H… HE KISSED YOU!" Kisame exclaimed. He knew that Kagome was a nice, attractive girl and all, but Itachi? Did Itachi even like girls? Then, thinking about all the alone time he spent on missions with Itachi, he hoped so.

"Yes! Then, when I was about to yell at him, he does it again! That makes it the THIRD kiss he's stolen from me! Then, as if nothing had happened, he ordered me to leave and to start breakfast!" Kagome shouted. Kisame was still having a hard time taking in Itachi kissing someone.

Deidara walked into the room. Looking over at a choking Kisame and a furious Kagome, he asked what anyone would ask. "What's up, Un?"

Kisame pointed a finger at Kagome. "ITACHI KISSED KAGOME!" Deidara's jaw dropped. Looking over at Kagome, and seeing her not denying it but looking extremely furious, he became enraged. Itachi was already trying to claim Kagome.

Suddenly, Kisame had a wicked smile. "So, Kagome…" She looked at him. "What was it like to live every fangirl's dream?"

Kagome turned beet red. "**SHOCK!!**" Kisame became a twitching form on the ground. Kagome went back to making (beating) omelets.

Deidara walked over to him, and started to poke him with a wooden spoon from the counter. So this is what Kagome could do, huh? Yeah, that is one piece of jewelry he could do without.

"Deidara, go wait in the dinning room; your omelet should be ready soon. Oh, and could you drag Kisame out there, too?" Kagome asked nicely. It wouldn't do any good to take her anger out on people who didn't cause it she decided. Deidara stopped poking Kisame's unconscious and twitching form, and nodded. He definitely didn't want to get on Kagome's bad side.

Kagome went back to making breakfast for everyone. Well, except for Sasori, because he didn't need to eat food. What does he need to stay alive? Oil? She would have to ask him about it later, but only if she had Deidara or Kisame with her while she asked. Even though she hated Itachi's guts, she wasn't stupid. If he said that little boy would try and make her into a puppet given the chance, then she would take his word on it until further notice.

As the she let the omelets cook, she thought over this new world she was in. From what she could see of the run-down town, it appeared to have technology, but not to the point of being more advanced than her own world was. Then, it had the benefits of the feudal era that she loved - the clean air, the forest and trees everywhere - but without demons trying to eat her every ten minutes. Maybe this new world wasn't so bad.

Seeing the first omelet was done, Kagome took it off and started on the next one. She hoped that some of the other members would be coming back to base soon. She'd like to meet them while people she already knew were still here, so she wouldn't have to face them alone. Not that she minded meeting new people or was shy. Far from it. She just… didn't feel that comfortable meeting a bunch of psychopathic killers by herself. She didn't think anyone would, in her shoes.

Finishing the second omelet, she started on the third. Today, she was going to find out what there was to do around this place. She couldn't go out without someone with her, and the only ones she trusted were Kisame and Deidara. She trusted Itachi to a degree, but if he told her to do something, then she would have to do it.

Thinking of which, she was starting to think that she may have a way around the blasted necklace. She would have to try it out later in the day, and follow the command given anyway, to not let him know about it so that she could have the element of surprise. It would be priceless to see the look on his face when he realizes that he couldn't control her anymore.

Finishing up cooking, she brought one plate to Leader's door. Kagome knocked once, said "Food," in a clear voice, and left the tray outside the door. She didn't want to bother him. She would come to pick up the tray after breakfast was over.

Going back to the kitchen, she picked up the plate of omelets in one hand and the others' plates and forks in the other hand. Walking to the dinning room, she saw Kisame and Deidara talking while waiting for their food.

Smiling, she placed the omelets on the table, and passed out the plates, setting one aside for Itachi. Not stopping their conversation, the two men each grabbed an omelet and started eating.

"This is really good, Un!" Deidara complimented Kagome's cooking after a second of the food being in his mouth.

"Yeah. You did a great job Kagome; this taste delicious," Kisame agreed.

Kagome beamed with pride. Omelets were her specialty. Inuyasha never complimented her cooking except for when she made instant ramen, and he mostly complained the whole three minutes it took to cook. It felt good to have someone notice her hard work for once.

Dishing herself out, she started on her omelet. When she was halfway done, she heard the dinning room door open. Looking up, she met eyes with Itachi, his wet hair fresh from the shower. Itachi held her gaze until she broke it off and turned back to her food.

Kagome glimpsed, out of the corner of her eye, Itachi pulling out the seat next to her. Without a word, he dished himself an omelet and started eating.

Kagome felt an uneasy silence brake out at the table. Looking around, she could see Deidara full-out glaring at Itachi.

Itachi noticed Deidara's glare and ignored it. When he saw Deidara clinch his fist, he mentally smirked. So Deidara knew about the kiss, did he? He looked over at Kisame to see him looking at him knowingly. Kagome must have told them what happened this morning. That was okay, he decided; it just showed the others who she belonged to. If he had told them, they wouldn't have believed it nearly as much as coming from an angry Kagome's mouth.

"Sooo," Kisame tried to break the deadly silence that had settled. "What are your plans for today, Kagome?" he asked.

Kagome smiled thankfully at him for breaking the silence. "I'm not really sure. I was going to organize the kitchen to my liking, since I'm the one who's going to be using it the most. After that, I was going to see what there is to do for fun around here. Do either of you know anything fun to do here?" Kagome asked Deidara and Kisame, ignoring Itachi, before taking a bite out of her omelet.

Deidara saw she was still mad at Itachi, and looked smugly over at him. It looked like she didn't really even like Itachi. He would defiantly have the advantage in this silent war over Kagome.

"Well, there isn't really that much to do at base. There's a T.V. in the living room, we have a hot springs, and then there's the training area. Besides that, there isn't much to do here. Whenever we're at base, it usually isn't for a very long time, and then it's to rest up for another mission," Kisame said with a shrug, and went back to eating his breakfast.

Kagome's shoulders slumped. There was almost nothing to do here. She was never one for much T.V., and she probably wouldn't really get most of the programs here anyway. Then there was the hot springs. She could spend time there, but not even she could spend all of her free time in one. She guessed she could spend her time training, but that would only keep her occupied for so long. Things would get boring here very fast for her. She was used to wide open spaces, and constant walking, and meeting new people. She didn't even know if there were any other females that she would be able to talk to here.

"You could always help me sculpt, yeah," Deidara added helpfully.

Kagome gave him a hundred-watt smile. "I think I'll take you up on that offer, thanks."

"No problem, yeah." Deidara smiled back. Itachi glared at him, which just made Deidara smile wider. "Would you like to help me after you're done doing dishes, yeah?" Deidara inquired.

"Sure."

Everyone finished eating, and Kagome gathered up the plates. Placing them in the sink, she went to get Leader's plate. It was empty and once again sitting outside his door. Kagome briefly wondered if he ever got out of that office. Deciding to think about it later, she picked up the plate and went back to the kitchen to wash the dishes.

Coming back into the kitchen, she saw Itachi waiting by the sink. He looked unemotional as usual, just standing there leaning up against the counter, waiting for her to speak first and acknowledge his presence.

Furrowing her eyebrows slightly, she walked up to the sink and turned on the water, completely ignoring him. He may want to talk to her, but she didn't want to even see him. She was still ticked off about this morning. Just who did he think he was? Did he think that he was the king of the world? Well, news flash to him, he wasn't! She had made sure of it, and even asked Kisame how the government worked here. He didn't give her too much information, but enough to know that Itachi most certainly wasn't king, not even close.

When the sink filled to where she wanted it, she stopped the water and started to rinse the majority of the remaining food off one of the dishes, then put it in the side with the water. She repeated this process several times before Itachi spoke up.

He couldn't believe the nerve of this woman! Just who did she think she was, ignoring him like that? He was Itachi Uchiha! He could kill her with nothing more than a lazy flick of his wrist! He was the head of the Uchiha clan! Even if he did destroy the clan, he was still the head and he deserved some respect, dang it!

"Kagome," Itachi said coldly. She continued to do the dishes and ignore him. He slightly furrowed his brows. She was dismissing his presence, again. "Kagome," he said in a more demanding tone. She didn't even pause in her work. Itachi's fists clenched. Fine, he would do it the hard way.

Itachi's hand shot out and grabbed her chin, forcing it to turn to him, and he was met with a glare. "What?" she spat out like venom, hoping that the words would somehow bite him or something if she said them meanly enough. "Don't you have some ninja stuff or something to do?" she mocked.

Itachi met her glare with one of his own. "You will answer me when I call you," Itachi demanded. He briefly noticed the back of her necklace glow before fading back to normal.

"Why should I? I can ignore you if I want to," Kagome snapped at him.

"You will answer me when I call you. You will not ignore me when I demand your attention." Itachi stated it so that no room was left for augment.

"Just watch me." She snapped her chin out of his grip, and went back to doing dishes.

Itachi's Sharingan activated from his anger. "Look at me, Kagome," he demanded. He saw Kagome fight to not look at him, but eventually she had to listen.

"What do you want? Can't you see I'm trying to work? Or do those pin-wheels you call eyes not work?" Kagome demanded.

"You will talk to me with respect, or I will cut out your tongue," Itachi threatened. She didn't know how true that 'eyes not working' insult was.

Kagome stuck out a finger, and poked him in the chest with each word she said. She started taking a step with each poke. "You can't make me!"

Itachi grabbed her finger. "You need to learn your place."

Kagome narrowed her eyes. What was it with demon-blooded guys saying her place was under them? "I already know **my place**. Away from **you**! And if you would kindly let go of my finger, I will gladly get my bag, and go to **my place**. Far, far away from **you**!" Kagome started to try to tug her finger out of his grip but to no avail. What was his grip made from? Steel? Titanium, maybe?

Itachi grabbed her wrist, and pulled quickly on it. Kagome, not expecting the sudden tug, fell against Itachi's chest. For the second time that day she noticed just how well built Itachi's chest was. It was rock solid with muscle, but still had a soft outside. Kagome blushed a little from her thoughts.

"**Your place** is where ever **I** say it is," Itachi stated coldly. Kagome snapped out of her daze, and started to get mad again. "You are not to leave this base without my permission. And you are to avoid Deidara, and are not to talk to him without my permission. Did I make myself clear?"

"I don't have to listen to you. I'm not your property! I have my own free will, and I can chose to see any person I want too!"

Itachi backhanded her. Kagome felt the sting before she even hit the ground. "You will listen to what I tell you. You belong to me now. You are my property, and you will obey me." Itachi glared at her. The Sharingan was just barely kept at bay. She had been overstepping her bounds for too long now. It was time for her to learn where the line was, and to learn not to cross it.

With that final word, Kagome snapped, and her mind went blank. It was happening again. The only difference this time was that she wouldn't take it. All of her friends had trained her in some shape or form so she could protect herself. She may not be an all-powerful Demon Lord like Sesshomaru, not even a priestess trained with years of experience, but she knew enough to at least try and stop this.

Kagome quickly spun her legs, and knocked Itachi off balance. Itachi steadied himself easily from the unexpected move, and looked over six feet to see that the fingertips on Kagome's right hand were glowing dark blue. He knew that the glow was her miko chi, which she was channeling to get ready for an attack.

Itachi looked at the rosary she had on. It was supposed to stop her from attacking him. Looking closely, he saw that the rosary was slightly shocking her in warning. She didn't show any pain on her face, though. It was a blank mask. Looking at her eyes, he saw how dull they were. Her mind had gone into shut-down for some reason, which meant she wouldn't feel any pain inflicted on her.

Kagome snapped her wrist. A long, dark blue whip formed, trailing around from where her fingers were going down. Kagome lifted the whip, and struck it at Itachi. He dodged with ease. In the back of Kagome's mind, she could feel the voltage go up on the rosary. Ignoring the pain, she started to yell.

"I don't **belong** to **anyone**!" She tried to hit him again. "You don't **own** me! You don't even **know **me!" Kagome lashed out at him a couple more times.

By now, the other members at base had come to see what the commotion was all about. Kisame was the first in the door, just in time to see Itachi jump right in front of him, before jumping a few feet away. Next thing Kisame knew, a dark blue whip cracked not two inches in front of his feet. The whip quickly changed direction, and slashed after Itachi. Looking at the owner of the whip, he was shocked to see Kagome in a blind rage, and her rosary madly shocking her. The other members watched over his shoulder as Kagome tried to _kill_ Itachi.

Now they could all see how Kagome could kill a demon easily. The power she formed her whip with had them all on edge, and made the hair on the back of their necks stand on end. The only thing that went through their minds beside a long line of colorful curses was that they were all glad she wasn't ticked at _them_.

Itachi dodged another close hit from the whip. She would make a great sparring partner. But the shock from the necklace couldn't be good for her. She would pass out from the voltage if he didn't stop this soon. She was in a blind rage, and no amount of talking would get her out of it. Whatever he had done to trigger this must be something from her past. It was like she was seeing someone else when she attacked him.

"It's not my fault! It's **not** my **fault**!" Kagome screamed at him. Now Itachi knew she must be seeing someone else.

Itachi quickly blurred behind her. She seemed to know this, and quickly spun to try to hit him and hopefully cut his body in two. But that didn't happen. He blurred again, right before the whip would have touched him, and appeared in front of her. Before she could strike again, he grabbed both of her wrists. But he wasn't expecting the quick knee to the groin that she delivered, or the kick to the stomach that sent him flying into the kitchen wall. That wasn't a move they taught ninjas, but it was still very effective.

Itachi stood back up, and placed on his emotionless mask, but on the inside he was debating on whether or not to forget the current plan and just go back to the original plan of slowly torturing her to death.

After Kagome kneed him, she slowly felt the Jewel waking up. The only reason she had been able to get this far without the Jewel suppressing her powers was that it was asleep. She was lucky that the Jewel was so lazy, because since she had the rosary placed on her, she had shielded her mind from it. At times it had been hard, but after they got to base, the Jewel had eventually stopped trying to pry into her mind.

Itachi suddenly felt the Jewel inside his mind in the middle of his cussing spree. Not that you could tell that from how he looked on the outside. On the outside, he looked perfectly fine, and was glaring at Kagome.

'_Yo, what happened while I was asleep? This place looks like crap. So do you at the moment, now that I look at it,' _the Jewel, Bob, casually stated.

'That WENCH has been attacking me! She even had the nerve to knee me in the groin! I'm going to KILL the wench!' Itachi screamed at the Jewel in his mind. He wanted to yell his frustrations at someone, why not Bob? It wasn't like it was going to talk to any of the other members, except maybe Leader.

'_Ow, that must have hurt. Well, you just need to calm down, and tell me how this all happened,' _the Jewel said slowly and like he was talking to a small crying child.

Itachi seriously debated if there was a way to kill a magical marble. '_YOU IDIOT!!_' Bob suddenly screamed in his mind after reviewing what had happened. Itachi tried his best not to twitch from all the pain he was in at the moment. '_I thought that you were more intelligent than that! I even had you read her diary so that this could all have been avoided! Do you have ANY idea how bad it is to tell her something like that?! And you BACKHANDED her! What the heck were you thinking?!' _the Jewel ranted in his mind. Itachi ignored it. He had to somehow calm Kagome down enough that she would stop being a harm to herself and others.

_Now! You need to calm her down now! Much more pressure from that rosary will either snap it or kill her!'_ the Jewel said frantically.

'Hn.' Itachi put a mind barrier up so he could focus on the task at hand. He saw the Jewel put a block on her powers, and he took his chance. Flipping her onto her back, he pulled Kagome's arms behind her back and pressed one knee onto the middle of her back while the other held down her legs.

"Kagome!" Itachi demanded is a stern tone. "You will cease this nonsense at once!" Kagome started to struggle, and Itachi lifted her arms higher, sending bolts of pain down her arms.

"I HATE you! Why are you **doing this to me?**! What did I do WRONG?!" Kagome shouted while trying to struggle out of Itachi's grip. Kagome screamed out in pain as the Jewel put more pressure. She was almost to her breaking point.

Itachi decide to take a different approach. Talking sense to her wasn't doing much. She was too far into whatever memories she was having. Pulling out a small bottle of liquid lavender, he rubbed some of the liquid into his palm and rubbed it into his skin on his neck. Relaxing the pressure on her arms a little, he leaned forward until his mouth was right next to her ear. He softly stated her name. "Kagome, you need to calm down." Kagome struggled some more, but not as hard as before. "I'm not going to hurt you. You need to calm down." She still struggled, but he could feel that she was rapidly losing her strength, and was slightly calming down from the smooth and gentler tones of his voice. "Shhh, don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you. You just need to calm down." Itachi shifted Kagome so that she was sitting in his lap while he wrapped his legs around her and held her arms crisscrossed so she couldn't lash out again.

Itachi could feel Kagome rapidly calming down. Seeing that his plan was working, he started to slightly rock her back and forth.

The part of Kagome's mind that was still conscious briefly noticed the smell of lavender. She heard someone talking in low tones to calm her down. Stupid monotone voice. Sesshomaru could calm her down with his voice, too, the stupid jerk. Who was it that knew that the smell of lavender and gentle tones calmed her down, anyway? With the last of her strength, Kagome managed to get out a couple of important words.

"Please…don't hurt me." Kagome quickly felt her conscious slipping.

Itachi leaned closer to her ear so she could hear him better. "Don't worry, I won't let anything hurt you, Kagome," he whispered in her ear as he rubbed small circles into her back. Kagome let out a sigh of relief as she passed out.

Itachi looked over at the entrance of the kitchen to see all three other members that were at base looking at him in shock and disbelief. Who knew that Itachi could be nice?

Kisame opened his mouth only to snap it shut the next second. This went on for a couple of seconds until he managed to get two words out. "What happened?"

"Something triggered a bad memory for Kagome, and her brain blocked itself and put her body into defensive mode." Itachi explained like it was an everyday thing. Looking down at the heavily breathing Kagome, he could tell she was getting a fever. Feeling her head to make sure, Itachi picked her up bridal style to bring her to a bed.

Getting to the door, he saw that no one had moved. "Do you need something?" Itachi asked emotionlessly.

Deidara looked at Kagome closely and then glared at Itachi. "You slapped her," he said angrily. Kisame looked at Kagome, and then looked to Itachi, shocked.

Itachi glared at Deidara. "And if I did?" he challenged.

"Give her to me. I'll take care of her. You're the one who probably triggered the memory." Deidara was so angry that he dropped his added words.

Itachi glared at him. He couldn't really say anything, because he knew that he was the one to trigger the memory. So, instead, he settled for demanding that they get out of his way. "Move." Itachi looked over at Kisame. "You go and get Konan. Send her to my room." Kisame looked at Itachi's serious face and nodded, before pushing the other two out of his way and heading towards Leader's office. Konan could almost always be found with Leader.

Itachi started to step forward, but Deidara got in his way. "Give me Kagome. If you hit her, you don't deserve her. I will take care of her. You have done enough," Deidara said seriously.

Itachi stood where he was. Then, in a tone that clearly said he'd kill Deidara if he didn't do as Itachi said, he told him to "Get out of the way."

Deidara reached a hand into his clay pouch. He was about to attack Itachi when he felt Leader summoning him. Cursing violently, he glared at Itachi. "This isn't over yet," Deidara stated before storming out of the kitchen.

Sasori looked at him briefly before looking at the girl in his arms. "It will be harder for you to gain her trust now, you know. If that triggered a memory that caused her to go into mental shut-down and defensive mode, then you slapping her will put a natural fear of you in her mind. I don't know what your plans for this girl are, but you should be prepared for a different reaction from her when she awakes," Sasori stated, looking straight in Itachi's eyes. Itachi gave him a solid nod before Sasori turned and walked away.

Itachi looked down at Kagome, and saw how the bruising was forming all across one side of her face. It would take a couple of days, at the least, to heal completely.

Walking down the hall, Itachi could hear Konan fall into step behind him. Coming to the door, he waited for Konan to open it, which she did.

Setting Kagome on the bed, Itachi stepped back so Konan could see what all needed to be done. Setting her medical bag on the floor and closing her eyes, her hands started to glow a light green from her healing chakara. After a couple of minutes, she opened her eyes and looked at Itachi, who was standing a couple of feet away from her.

"She has a high fever and is suffering from dehydration. It's a miracle that she didn't die from the electricity. You will need to give her small sips of water every thirty minutes and replace a wet rag on her forehead. She will also need to take these pills as directed," Konan said, pulling out a pill bottle from her bag.

"Why are you not doing it?" Itachi asked.

"Pein has made it clear to me that you are the one to nurse her back to health, since you are the one who caused her to go into this state," Konan said before closing her bag. Picking it up, she walked out of the room, but right before she closed the door she spoke up. "And Itachi, Pein says if she does not come back to health, you will be receiving harsh punishment." With that said, she completely closed the door behind her.

Itachi watched Kagome start sweating for a second, before walking out of the room to get a bowl and cup of water.

**End Chapter**

Okay, they are now up to three kisses and a slap. I think it's going pretty good. Please don't throw stuff at me. It's very rude! _Mumble_StupidNotReviewingJerks.ThrowingStuffAtMeAllTheTime.

But really. How was this chapter? I hope it was okay. the next chapter is going to be a little bit more drama then usually so watch out.

Please read and review. You know I DO want to hear from you. And I'm not talking about the person next to you picking their nose. I mean YOU.

-Probs


	9. Do You Remember?

Hey, this is the drama chapter thank I was talking about. Please tell me what you think at the end of it.

And thanks to all my GREAT Reviews. Specially those of you who played with the author notes. And thanks to my beta reader who really combed through this chapter.

Disclaimer-I don't own any of the Inuyasha characters or Naruto characters in this chapter or the last which I forgot to put a disclaimer in. BUT I DO own Bob's twisted mind and the plot that my twisted mind comes up with.

Chapter nine **Chapter nine: Do you remember?**

Itachi sat down in his chair, and ran a hand through his now loose hair. Kagome had just taken a turn for the worse. He had given her the medicine that she required, and had been giving her sips of water every time he replaced the damp rag. He didn't know what else to do. He had never had to take care of a sick person before. He had only been sick five times in his life. And three of those times were just simple colds. The other two were food poisoning and chicken pox.

It wasn't really that surprising that Kagome had fallen ill. She had probably had this building up ever since she had spent that night tied to the tree in the rain. Then the rosary had burned quite a few white blood cells. The infection didn't have as much stopping it anymore, so it had taken over.

'_Don't worry about it too much at the moment. I've been slowly letting my power flow into her so she'll regain her spiritual powers faster. After that, they should kick in, and give her a boost of healing energy. The biggest problem she'll have is fighting off her memories. The fact that she fought back against you is a great sign that she's fighting them,_' Bob said in a depressed tone.

'Why is she so defensive about being called a possession?' Itachi questioned the Jewel. He could feel the Jewel hesitating, and weighing the answer, before it spoke.

'_It's not my place to tell, but I can tell you it has something to do with her father. Not to mention that all throughout the feudal era, random demons would kidnap her and call her their possession, which is pretty much what you did. The only reason she didn't blow up at Kouga and Inuyasha is because she was considered part of their pack. So when they said it, it was saying that she was a friend or like a sister to them. And in the beginning with Kouga, it was because he said it so carefree and mostly to get under Inuyasha's skin,_' Bob explained.

'Hn. What was it that her father did?' Itachi asked.

'_I don't think it's __**your place**__ to know that,_' Bob snapped at him. He was still ticked that Itachi had done something like that. He knew that Itachi was demanding, but he didn't think that he would go as far as physical harm to get her to obey something as small as looking at him.

Itachi clenched his fist. Bob was lucky that he didn't have a physical form, or else he would already be lying in a pool of his own blood.

'_I thought that, if I gave you a little leverage over Kagome, you wouldn't go to these extremes. I was hoping that you would be able to look after and take care of Kagome in this world. But it looks like I was wrong._' Bob's voice was full of disappointment. '_You did more damage than any other person has done to her in years. Do you have any idea how long it took for Kagome to open back up to people after what happened to her? Do you know how much of a miracle it was that she was as forgiving as she was to everyone that had harmed her? Now you may have caused her to go back to a mere shell of who she really is._' Itachi could hear the anger in Bob's voice. '_I just hope that Kagome will be willing to trust any new person in the future. After she wakes up, I will be bringing her back to the feudal era,_' Bob said in a final voice. _'I was wrong to think that this world would be better for her, if people like you are here,'_ Bob sneered.

Itachi narrowed his eyes. He needed Kagome to heal his eyes. He had no desire to go blind. She wouldn't be leaving unless he said so.

'_Really, now? What can you do to stop me? You deserve to go blind. Even now, you only think about yourself. I don't know what made me think that you could deserve something as great as Kagome._' Itachi shot from his seat, Sharingan activated.

Itachi snapped his head to Kagome when he heard her mumbling. "Please, don't hurt momma," she choked out. Itachi could see tears forming. "I'll be good! Just don't hurt us more!"

Itachi looked at the Jewel glowing a soft purple to try and comfort her. He could feel a tightening in his chest, knowing that he caused this.

'_So now you feel guilty, do you? Well, it's too late. She's losing the battle already. She will now no doubt go back to the fearful girl she used to be. I hope that you're happy._' Itachi could almost feel the venom from the voice in the air.

Thinking it over for a moment, Itachi made a choice. 'If I help her, will you keep her here until I say otherwise?' Itachi questioned.

'_If you help her, I will give you a second chance to prove yourself. But I highly doubt anything __**you**__ could do would __**help**__ her,_' Bob said in a snide tone.

Itachi thought it over. He would have to make do with what the Jewel offered him. The Jewel was currently holding all the cards. 'Agreed.'

Walking over to Kagome, he laid down next to her. Bringing his hands to her face, he made her face him, and then opened her eyes. Using the Sharingan, he entered her mind.

**(Kagome's Mindset)**

Itachi looked around once he felt he was stable in Kagome's mind. It was dark, but you could tell it was a small child's room. The walls were colored a light pink, and there were stuffed animals thrown around on the floor. But there were some problems. There was broken furniture everywhere. The place looked like a tornado had hit it.

Looking around, Itachi couldn't find where Kagome was. Turning around when he heard sniffling, he saw the closet door halfway hanging off its hinges. Slowly lifting it up, he saw a terrified five-year-old little girl.

The girl shrieked when she saw the door moving. Lifting her arms over her face, she started crying. "I be good! I be good!" She started crying.

Itachi looked down at the child in disbelief. This was Kagome? This small, broken, and fragile girl was the same woman who stood up to him countless times, and was always happy-go-lucky and smiling? Itachi stood there for a moment, not knowing what to do. He had never had to face something like this before.

Hearing Kagome break down into full-out sobs, he snapped out of it. Kneeling down so she could see him, he saw her huddle farther into the corner of the closet.

"Girl." Itachi, for some reason, couldn't bring himself to call this broken child 'Kagome' yet. He didn't want to believe this was really what he had done to Kagome's mental state.

Kagome tried to become one with the wall when she heard his voice.

Itachi frowned. That was what he wanted, a voice in the back of his mind told him. And it was true, he realized. He had wanted Kagome to fear him when he had slapped her. But now, seeing it left a empty feeling in his gut.

"Come here; I'm not going to hurt you," Itachi said emotionlessly. He knew that gentler tones would do no good right now. He needed to get her attention before he could do anything.

Kagome hesitantly looked over at him, before ducking her head back into her legs. "Please don't hurt me! I be a good girl! I pomiss!" Kagome sobbed into her scrawny knees.

Itachi felt his chest tighten again. What exactly did her father do to her? He had heard of child abuse, but he had never actually _seen _it.

"Girl, I'm not going to hurt you," Itachi said patiently. It would do no good to get angry with the girl for being fearful.

Kagome sniffed, and looked up at him with tear-filled eyes. "You pomiss?" The girl asked uncertainly, fearful that he was going to suddenly change his mind, and hit her.

"I promise." Itachi nodded firmly.

The girl looked uncertain whether she should trust this new man or not. Finally, she nodded a little at him. Itachi took this as a good sign to get closer to her, and picked her up. The girl stiffened at the contact, but did nothing to stop it.

Itachi held her close to his chest, and put a hand on her back to keep her from falling off his other arm. Moving his hand to shift her for a little better handling, he could feel her ribs in an unhealthy way. Her ribs were almost sticking out of her skin.

Looking around the room, he found the bed that was still standing. Walking over to it, he sat the girl on the bed to look her over. She looked like she was about to flee at any moment if he showed the slightest sign of anger or hostility.

Without a word, he slowly reached out and lightly gripped her arm. Checking it over, he noticed all the scrapes and bruises covering it. Placing that one down, he went to the other one. She winced, and bit her bottom lip when he touched it, but didn't cry out besides that. Loosening his grip a little, he checked the rest of it. Her left wrist was clearly sprained. Letting her arm go, he moved on to her legs. Besides major bruising, he could tell that her right ankle had just recovered from a broken bone. Lifting his hands to her face, he saw her naturally flinch back. Feeling around her skull and neck, he made sure that there was no major damage done to her skull.

Lifting her shirt to continue checking for injuries, he saw just how bad of condition she was in. Looking at her ribs, he had to hold back a cringe. It was just as bad as he had first thought, if not worse. Probably, the only thing even keeping this child alive was her dormant miko powers.

Itachi started to get angry. Even though he had killed countless children on various missions, he always made sure that the child didn't know what was happening, and it was quick and painless for them. But beating a child. That was plain despicable. Even his mental torture of his little brother with images of their parents' deaths hadn't been nearly this mentally damaging, not even mentioning the physical damage to Kagome. He had even done that for Sasuke's own good, and the most he had ever hurt his brother physically was a cut on the arm. Kagome showed signs of her bones being broken several times.

Kagome started to fidget when he didn't say anything. He was starting to get mad. Did she do something wrong? Was he going to hit her for it?

Itachi noticed that she must have noticed he was angry, and was getting nervous. Deciding to talk to her to calm her down a little, he started asking questions. He needed answers. "Girl, what is your name?"

Kagome looked shocked at the question. Then she weighed whether or not to tell him. Finally, she said something so quietly Itachi could barely her it.

"Can you say that again?" he asked.

"Kagome. But Momma used to call me her little Kaga," Kagome said, looking through the uneven bangs covering her eyes.

Itachi lifted her chin gently, and looked her in the eyes. "Where's you mother?" He could see her start tearing up.

"Kagome was a good girl! She was being good! What did Kagome do wrong?!" Kagome started to get frantic.

Itachi quickly grabbed her, and sat down on the bed. Pulling her close to his chest, he started to rub small circles in her back. Shhing her, he started to rock her back and forth.

"It's okay. It's okay, Kaga." He whispered in her ear like he had done with the larger her to calm her down.

Kagome started to calm a little, and looked up at him like she wanted to ask him something, but was too scared to. Propping her up a little on his lap, he motioned for her to ask by nodding his head slightly.

"Will you weave like Momma did?" Kagome asked with teary eyes.

"Why did your mother leave?" Itachi asked her patiently.

She started to cry a little, but still answered him. "Daddy says it's Kagome's fault for being a bad girl. That if Kagome was a better girl that daddy wouldn't of had to hit her and Momma."

Itachi looked at her carefully. "Why did your father hit your mother?"

"Momma was going to have another baby. Daddy didn't like it. He said mean things to Momma and would slap her on the face. He always says that we his. He didn't like that Momma liked the other nice man." Kagome buried her face into Itachi's chest, sobbing. Looking up at him, she said some more. "Daddy says it's my fault that Momma has to be in the big box outside. Why did we have to bury Momma?" she questioned him with tear-filled eyes.

Itachi knew what was happening now. He also knew what had triggered this; he had repeated that very same action.

It was obvious that Kagome's mother had cheated on her husband, and had gotten pregnant. So, in his rage, he had taken it out on his wife by beating her. He must have beaten the woman to death, and then he had turned to the child. He must have beaten the girl every night for her to have this many bruises. There was no telling how long it had gone on.

Itachi tightened his grip on the girl as she cried harder. He would have never expected for Kagome to have been abused as a child. The mental damage that her father had placed on her would probably never fully be healed. There would always be some doubt in the back of her mind that, if she hadn't been 'bad', then her mother would still be there.

Setting her on his lap so she could see him clearly, he lifted her chin so she would have to look him in the eyes. She tried to look the other way, but he held his grip, and spoke. "Kagome, I need you to look at me." She hesitantly looked him in the eye. "It is not your fault that your father killed your mother. You were not being a bad girl. Your father is a bad man. Do you understand me?" Itachi demanded.

The girl looked uncertain at the new information. She had no doubt had what her father said beaten into her.

"Kagome. You did nothing wrong. Your father was being a very bad man. That is why your mother is gone. It was not your fault." Itachi waited for her to say something. Right when she started to open her mouth, they heard a door slam shut.

Kagome's eyes got wide and fearful as she started to panic. Itachi grabbed her before she could run and hide, and Kagome struggled frantically to get out of his arms. When she heard footsteps coming down the hall, she started sobbing.

Itachi looked down at the girl in his arms, and stood her up behind him. Any harm that happened in the mindset could hurt someone worse than if they were hurt physically. Stepping in front of her, he blocked the view of her from the door.

"Stay behind me; I'll protect you," Itachi said firmly. Kagome looked up at him in wonder and amazement, before breaking into a smile, and nodding. He noticed that some of her teeth were missing, and cursed mentally. Turning back towards the door, he waited.

A man stepped into the doorway, and looked at him strangely. "How did you get in here?" the man asked, before looking around the room. "Where's that little witch?" he demanded. Just looking at the man, Itachi could tell that he wasn't drunk. He was dressed in a fine business suit, and was in no way under the influence of alcohol. The man beat her while thinking clearly. It was worse than if he was a drunk.

No one would ever think of him as a beater. He had deep smile lines, and had a friendly look to him. People probably would have never have guessed that he came home and beat his daughter every day.

The man got angry at Itachi's non-response. "Where the heck did you put the little wench?!" the man shouted.

Itachi could feel little Kagome hiding her face in the back of his pants leg. So this was the man that caused this small child such harm? Studying his features, he saw that Kagome must have gotten most of her looks from her mother. Besides the blue eyes and blue-tinted black hair, she looked nothing like the man. But even their eyes weren't that much alike. While Kagome's were usually full of life and welcoming warmth, his were cold and filled with malice.

The man saw the movement behind Itachi's leg, and growled. "Give her to me. She belongs to me!" the man demanded.

Itachi could hear Kagome start crying. Hardening his glare, he went into a defensive stance. After seeing the condition that Kagome was in, there was no way that he was going to let this man anywhere near her. This man didn't deserve the air she breathed. No one should do this to a small child for reasons that they didn't even understand. Then he had the nerve to tell the girl that it was her fault that he had killed her mother and beat her.

"You will not be harming this girl any more," Itachi said coldly.

"You can't tell me what the heck I can and can't do to my own daughter. She's my property. I can do whatever I want to do to her," the man said, taking a step forward. Itachi pulled out a kunai, and held it to his side. The man stopped at the sight of the blade. Then looking behind Itachi he glared.

"Wench! Get over here! You've been a very bad girl! I told you what would happen if you ever told anyone!" the man shouted. Itachi could feel Kagome shaking in fear, but not going over to him. "Wench! I said get over here!" She shook her head against the back of Itachi leg. Then, in a deadly calm voice Kagome's father started talking. "You know it's because of you being a bad girl like this that your mother is dead." Itachi felt Kagome tighten her grip on his cloak. Suddenly, she jumped out in front of Itachi.

"NO! KAGOME IS A GOOD GIRL! YOU THE REASON THAT MOMMA GONE! YOU THE BAD MAN! I HATE YOU! I DON'T BELONG TO YOU!" Kagome exclaimed. Getting mad, she picked up a broken piece of wood, and threw it at her father. The wood landed harmlessly at his feet, but Itachi was impressed nonetheless. Not at her lame throw, but that she had the guts to stand up to her worst fear. Not many children would be able to do that.

The man was outraged. He had lost control over Kagome. Taking a step towards Kagome, he lifted his hand to strike her. Itachi appeared behind him, and held the kunai to his throat.

"I told you that I wasn't going to let you touch her, you scum," Itachi said, deadly intent lacing his voice.

Looking over at Kagome, he saw her looking at him, confused. Not wanting her to see her own father getting killed, he decided to go about it the simplest way. "Kagome, go into that corner, turn around, and close your eyes. Don't open them until I tell you to," Itachi demanded. Kagome nodded her head quickly. She didn't have as much courage now that Itachi wasn't behind her. She ran over to the corner, turned around, and held her hands over her eyes like instructed.

Sure that the girl wouldn't hear him, he whispered in the man's ear. "Kagome doesn't belong to you anymore. She now belongs to me. But I'm not going to abuse her, like you have, ever again. Unlike you, I will make sure that harm doesn't come to her. She will never live in fear of you again; I'll make sure of it." Itachi slowly slit the man's throat while saying it. He dropped the man to the floor, and watched him try in vain to keep his life's blood in. After the man had stopped moving, he cleaned his kunai, and walked over to Kagome.

"Kagome, I want you to keep your eyes closed 'til I tell you otherwise. No matter what, I want you to keep your eyes closed." Kagome nodded her agreement, and held still. Picking her up, Itachi positioned her to balance on his right hip. Turning around, he walked out of the room. It would do no good to have the girl see her father dead. Even if he did beat her. He was still her father, and it would still harm her mentally to see his corpse.

Walking down the hallway, he could tell that Kagome had come from a wealthy family. All the furniture was expensive and well built. There were paintings hanging on the walls, and breakables everywhere. Walking further down the hall, he came to the kitchen. Walking inside, he sat Kagome on one of the chairs at the dinning room table.

Walking over to the refrigerator, he opened it up, and looked inside. There was plenty of food in it. Kagome's father had been starving her. Just knowing this made Itachi's blood boil.

Grabbing the milk and sandwich makings, he brought them over to the kitchen counter.

It was important that he feed Kagome in her mindset while she was like this. Anything that helped her recover in here would help her on the outside, fighting the fever that had been getting out of hand. Plus, he just felt the need to make sure that Kagome's mind recovered from him slapping her.

Thinking about it now made him feel guilty. He had sent her back to stage one on the recovery with that fight. Now, really thinking about it, he hadn't exactly been completely reasonable. He had tried to take away one of the few good things she had found in this new world that the jewel had thrust her into. And the slap had been inexcusable. True, he had felt the need to show superiority over her, but he could have done it in a different way. Finishing making her sandwich, he put it on one of the clean, drying plates on the counter, and gave it to her along with a glass of milk.

Kagome looked at it, but didn't touch it. Itachi wondered in confusion as to why she refused to eat the food he'd prepared. So, finally, after a minute of waiting, he asked.

"Kagome, is there something wrong with the sandwich I made you?" Kagome just nodded her head. "I need you to tell me what's wrong with it."

Kagome looked up at him. "Daddy says I'm not allowed to have this food." Now that she had calmed down, her speech had improved dramatically.

Itachi pulled a chair in front of Kagome, and, sitting in it, looked her straight in the eye. "Listen to me, Kagome; your father will not hurt you for eating this food."

Kagome hesitantly nodded, but still didn't touch the food. Itachi let out a sigh. "Now what's the matter?"

Kagome looked up at him, and cocked her head to the side. "My turkey doesn't have any mustard."

Itachi could have fallen over at how picky of an eater Kagome was. Not that he could really complain. He was an extremely picky eater at this Kagome's age too. But he didn't think that a child starving wouldn't eat because of that reason.

"Does it have to have mustard on it?" Itachi asked calmly.

Kagome nodded her head. "Yes," she said firmly. "It has to have mustard. Momma wouldn't eat her turkey sandwiches if they didn't have any mustard on them."

Itachi looked at her for a moment, before going to the refrigerator and taking out the mustard. Bringing it back to the table, he opened her sandwich, and put some mustard on it. Closing her sandwich again, he gave it to her. She grabbed it, and started shoving as much as she could in her mouth.

Grabbing the sandwich from her, he looked at her sternly. "You need to eat this slower or else you'll get sick. Now drink a little of your milk."

Kagome got a disgusted look on her face. "I don't like milk. It tastes bad."

"You need to drink it. It will help you get better," Itachi patiently explained.

Kagome poked her glass of milk, and looked over at Itachi. "It's moving; I think it's alive," Kagome said, hoping that Itachi would take the bait and not make her drink it.

Itachi narrowed his eyes a little, and watched as Kagome quickly grabbed the glass, and started to drink it. After she got a fourth of it down, she put it back down with her tongue touching her chin, looking away. Peering at Itachi from the corner of her eyes, she looked for his approval. Seeing him nod, she gave him a smile. Suddenly, a thought struck her.

"What's nice man's name?" Kagome looked at him inquiringly.

Giving her a ghost of a smile, he thought about the number of people that thought of him as a 'nice man'. "My name is Itachi."

Kagome smiled at him. She loved her new Tachi. "Okay, can I have my sandwich back now, Tachi?"

Itachi thought over the butchery of his name, but knew it would do no good to try and correct it. His little brother couldn't pronounce his name fully, either, when he was her age. So, nodding and giving her her sandwich back, he made sure that she didn't eat it too quickly. It would do her no good if she ate it too fast and just puked it back up.

When she had finished, Kagome looked up at him hesitantly. Itachi thought about what she could be hesitant about, but couldn't think if anything. "What is it that you need?" he finally asked.

Kagome suddenly avoided his gaze. Finally, she spoke. "Will Tachi leave Kagome?" she asked quietly.

"Do you want me too?" She shook her head 'no'. "Then, I won't leave you. I promise."

Kagome looked up at him. "What about Daddy? He won't like you." Suddenly, she had a fearful look. "What if Daddy hurts Tachi?!" Kagome started to panic.

Picking her up, he held her tight to him. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and clutched his back. "Your Daddy won't be hurting anyone anymore. He can't hurt me, and I'll protect you from him." Itachi said firmly, leaving Kagome no room for doubt. "I promise."

Kagome nodded into his shoulder, and started crying. She started to glow a light green then, and slowly her form started to grow. The glow dimmed after a minute, and left a full-sized Kagome still clutching him, and sobbing into his shoulder. Itachi just held her close, and started rubbing smoothing circles in her back.

After a couple of minutes, Kagome's sobs receded to sniffles. As she pushed away from Itachi lightly, he let her go. Wiping her tears away, she found the ground suddenly very interesting.

"Thank you, Itachi. You have no idea what you have done means to me." Kagome's voice was a little raspy from all her crying.

"Hn." Itachi sat down in the chair that five-year-old Kagome had previously been sitting in. "Are you going to finish your milk now?" Itachi asked so seriously that Kagome broke a small smile.

Itachi felt a welling of pride knowing that he had caused her to truly smile, even if it was only a little. He needed to get her to smile for him more often. It did wonders for one's ego.

"I still think that it's alive. I swear it moved while you weren't looking." Kagome sat down next to Itachi.

"What happened to your father?" Itachi questioned. He needed to know. He needed to know how Kagome got out of her father's hold without his help.

Kagome's smile disappeared. "The gardener stayed late one night to finish some work, and heard my father yelling upstairs and me screaming after my father had broken three of my ribs," Kagome said sadly. "He called the police, and they came and found me. I had to stay at the hospital for nearly a year to fully recover without any lasting results. The doctors called my full physical recovery a miracle. I know now it was because of my miko chi that I recovered like I did. My father, while driving to his court hearing, was hit by an oncoming truck when he ran a red light. He died immediately on impact. "

Kagome stood up, and walked over to the kitchen. Reaching into the cabinet, she pulled out a clean cup, and got some water from the tap. Sitting back down, she took a drink before continuing.

"I was lucky, and didn't get sent to a foster home. Instead, I got sent to my pregnant Aunt Kun-Loon, Uncle Sai, and grandfather from my mother's side. It's thanks to them that I recovered mentally.

Uncle Sai was the weirdest but funniest person I had ever met. He away knew just what a person needed to smile. He reminds me a lot of my foster son, Shippo. Eventually, they adopted me.

Uncle Sai didn't give me a chance to crawl up into myself for self-pity. Every time I cried or got depressed, he would get me to laugh, and he away had some wise thing to tell. One time, he was gone for a week, and I started avoiding the other children at school. He found out, and went straight to the school. He marched right up to me, and picked me up. Then he marched over to a group of three girls, and put me down. The other girls looked at me questioningly, and when I tried running, he grabbed the back of my shirt, and lifted me back to the girls. Then, he told me that if I didn't make friends with these girls, he wouldn't ever let me have sugar again. So, naturally, I made quick friends with them. I'm still friends with those three girls to this day, though we have gone our separate ways." She took another sip of her water.

"Five months after my Aunt Kun-Loon had Souta, Uncle Sai got cancer. His last words to me was to always keep smiling. Then, he called me his daughter. He had never done that before. But it made me so happy to be able to tell people that Sai Higurashi was my father. He made me promise him that I would do as he asked, and watch over Aunt Kun-Loon and Souta like they were my real mother and brother. I've always tried to keep my promise to him.

After that, I started to call Aunt Kun-Loon 'Mother', and Souta was always referred to as my little brother that I had to look out for. In a way, he was like the little brother I lost when my father killed my mother," Kagome ended.

Itachi nodded. "I would like to apologize to you for slapping you. I should have gone about it a different way."

Kagome looked at him, shocked. Had he really just apologized to her? "You're forgiven. But if you really are sorry, you'll remove the rosary after you leave my mind," Kagome said jokingly.

Itachi cracked a small smile. "No, I don't think that I can do that. I know for a fact that you're not nearly as obedient as you were as a child. Even then, you showed a rebellious streak in you. I have a feeling that I might need the rosary in the near future."

Kagome pouted. "Fine. But I feel the need to repay you somehow. You really didn't need to help me."

Itachi watched her for a moment before answering. "I need you to heal my eyes. Every time I use the Sharingan to get into people's mind, I lose a bit of my sight."

Kagome looked shocked at the news. "You mean that your pin-wheel eyes really do something?" Itachi could feel his left eye start to twitch. "Well, I knew it must do something, but I had no idea it was capable of doing something like that. Not that I haven't had similar abilities used against me before, but wow," She finished her rambling.

"Will you help me or not?" Itachi asked, rubbing his temple.

"Oh yeah, um… sure. I could do that without a problem. You just have to wait for my body heal and wake up. Until then, I'll be meditating," Kagome said, finishing her glass of water.

"Hn. If you are now stable, I'll take my leave," Itachi said as he stood up out of his chair.

"Hey, Itachi?"

"Hn."

"Thanks again. I'll try and be nicer, and give this place more of a chance, if you promise to give me a little bit more slack. What do you say?"

"Hn."

"So, was that a yes or no?"

Itachi just smirked at her as he lifted his Sharingan.

**Back in Itachi's room**

Itachi could feel the weight of using the Sharingan for so long settle on him. He was suddenly grateful that he had had enough forethought to rest himself on the bed before using it.

Suddenly, he felt the Jewel poking at his mind. 'What is it now?' Itachi snapped.

After a moment or two, Bob answered. '_You did a good job. Not like __**I**__ ever doubted you._'

'Hn.'

'_No, really! I knew that you could help her!_' Bob complained.

'Just let me sleep.'

'_Fine, but I feel the need to tell you this now, in case this goes any farther. If you're really going to consider pursuing her hand in marriage, then you're going to have to get four different demons' permission. And Sesshomaru is going to be the worst. If you don't gain his permission, he'll probably kill you. And you'll have to get it sometime, because he put a ward on Kagome that won't let any man have her until he gives full permission. And even that has to wait until after marriage._'

'Hn. You told me. Now let me rest,' Itachi demanded.

'_Fine, but you can't say I didn't warn you. I have a feeling that I forgot to do something…_' Bob said, before drifting out of Itachi's mind.

Finally quiet, Itachi let himself drift off to sleep.

**End Chapter**

I'm really nervous about this chapter so Please tell me what you truly think. Like I said before. I've never wrote Drama before so I'm not completely sure how this came out. So Please, Please, Please, tell me how I did.

Many thanks,

-Probs

P.S. Oh yeah. I'm starting a for fun poll on my profile. Please vote! I'm just curious.


	10. Forgiveness? Maybe Not

Hi readers. Dodges random thrown objects Okay, this chapter is late because I let my beta reader have the week off to settle into collage. So no complaining. But please read the author's note at the bottom of the page when you're done reading. It's important.

Thanks go out to all those who reviewed. You all were really nice and supportive. I was really nervous about the last chapter but you all made me feel so much more better. And a special thanks to 4getmenot. She knows what this is for. And of course thanks to kawaiichibishun for taking time out of her life to help me improve on my story.

Disclaimer: None of you know my name because I'm not a famous author who makes tons of money by owning Naruto OR Inuyasha.

**Chapter Ten: Forgiveness? Maybe Not.**

Kagome woke feeling like a ton of bricks had been dumped on her, and then, just for good measure, the person who did the dumping had added another ton to make sure she felt as much pain as humanly possible. Was it legal to wake up feeling this bad?

Lying there for a moment, Kagome took in her surroundings. Slowly, memories of what had happened came back to her. Well, what had happened in her head after she snapped came back, at any rate. Coming to the conclusion that she must have attacked Itachi in a blind rage, she knew why her body felt like a burnt lightning rod.

Trying to get up, she felt something lightly pull her back. Looking down at Itachi's arm that was once again around her waist she sighed. Well, at least she didn't have her leg over his like yesterday morning. Now, if he had awoken for _that_, it would have been embarrassing. Carefully lifting his arm, she had to bite back a squeal of joy. Slowly climbing out of bed, Kagome pulled the covers back to cover Itachi.

She almost left the bed, but saw Itachi's arm looking for something to hold. Thinking fast, she put her pillow, which was still warm from her head, by his arm. He felt the heat, and pulled it to his chest. Kagome blushed when she thought that he had done the same thing with her body. She really needed to get him a teddy bear.

Looking back and waving her hand in front of Itachi's face, she saw he was still asleep. As Kagome quickly looked out the window, she saw it was still far too early to make breakfast. Smelling herself, she instantly knew what she should do to pass the time.

Grabbing her favorite shampoo and conditioner from her bag on the floor, she pulled out an outfit to wear that day from the drawer Itachi was letting her use. Nodding to herself, she silently left the room.

Walking down the hall, Kagome came to the kitchen. After getting a quick drink, she continued on to the hot springs to bathe. Opening the door, she let out a small gasp. Itachi hadn't shown her the hot springs; he had merely pointed to the door and told her what it was.

The spring was a natural spring that the building was built around. The water was so clear and clean that she figured it must have been filtered before it made it to the spring. But the most interesting thing about it was that it was half outside.

There was a beautiful polished wood deck with a partial roof to shade half of the spring. Two reclining patio chairs were set up beside a small table, and there was a stack of towels by the spring for convenience.

Smiling ear-to-ear, Kagome was out of her clothes in record time. Grabbing her bathing products, she walked down the stepping stones that lead to an opening in the spring rocks until she was at the edge of the spring. Looking at it from this close, Kagome could see it was **huge.** It could easily fit fifteen people without being crowded.

Dipping her toes in, Kagome could feel that the tempture was perfect. Hopping in the rest of the way, she let out a moan of pleasure. The hot water was just the thing she needed for her badly abused muscles. Lathering her loofa, she started to massage the soap into her skin. She'd needed this bath for a while, since she hadn't had one since she had arrived unexpectedly in this new world. Rinsing off the soap, she started on her hair. After she had put the conditioner in her hair, she went to the side of the spring to sit down and wait three minutes before rinsing it out of her hair.

Reaching the side of the spring, Kagome found that someone had carved seating into the rock for relaxing. Sitting down, she let her body completely relax.

Not for the first time, she wondered what Bob wanted her here for. And why would the Jewel make her stay with Itachi? She felt it trying to break into her mind, but not too much. Keeping her mind barrier strong, Kagome made sure that no part was left unprotected. It wouldn't do to have the Jewel break into her mind and see that she now knew how to block the rosary.

Before Kagome had snapped yesterday, she had tested her theory on the rosary. When Itachi had commanded that she look at him, she had put a barrier around one of the beads at the back of her neck, under her hair so that he couldn't see it. Then, when she was sure she felt no tug from the rosary to do what was told, she looked at him jerkily, so it looked like it was the rosary.

Applying science to the rosary, she had figured out how it worked. It was much like one of the toys she had bought for Shippo.

She had bought Shippo a small plastic duck that, when in water, started making sounds. But when you took it out, it didn't work. There were two metal bumps on the bottom of the duck that needed a conductor touching both of them in order to finish the circuit. What she had done was the opposite. By putting a barrier around a single bead, she had stopped the current from completing its course. Then, when the power of the command had faded away after a couple of seconds, she had dropped the barrier. Nothing had happened.

The only thing she didn't get was that Itachi had told her that her powers wouldn't work on the rosary. But thinking on it closely, she realized that the Jewel had only made the rosary so that she couldn't destroy it with her purifying energy. Kagome had instead made the barrier out of her purple energy that could harm humans. It was her first time trying to make a barrier out of that energy, so Bob probably hadn't thought to make the rosary immune to it as well. But, if he were to find out, Kagome didn't know if he could change the rosary after it was already on her. So now she must keep a constant mind barrier up to keep Bob out until she could make a deal with him.

Not only did her method work, but also it only used an incredibly tiny amount of her power. Itachi wouldn't even know what she was doing, because her hair would cover the purple tint of the barrier. Now that she wasn't on a rampage or anywhere near Itachi, she could finally celebrate her victory.

Doing a little victory dance, she about had a heart attack when she heard the door to the spring open. Standing in the doorway was a woman wearing the Akatsuki cloak, except that her version seemed somehow more dress-like. She had a paper flower in her hair that accented her porcelain-pale skin. Overall, she was a beautiful woman.

The woman was looking at her expressionlessly, but Kagome had seen a brief moment of surprise that flashed through her eyes before she had them back under control.

Hesitantly raising her hand, Kagome managed a small wave of greeting, while desperately hoping the woman hadn't caught her dancing in the spring. That would be _so_ embarrassing.

The woman nodded before starting to undress to bathe. Politely looking away, Kagome waited for her to get in the water before trying to start up a conversation.

After a couple of minutes, Kagome heard the water breaking, signaling she had gotten into the water. Waiting a couple more seconds to make sure that the woman was situated, Kagome turned back to look at her.

The Akatsuki woman had let her hair down, and Kagome could see it went down to about her shoulder blades. It was a medium blue that offset her skin tone.

Trying to be polite and settle her curiosity, Kagome tried to start a conversation. "Hi, my name's Kagome," she introduced herself.

The woman briefly glanced at Kagome before starting to scrub herself with a soap bar and washcloth. "Konan," she said after she had looked away.

"It's nice to meet you, Konan. I was afraid that I would be the only girl here. It's a relief to know that there is at least one other woman here," Kagome said, slightly joking with her.

Konan didn't even look at her. Kagome tried again. "So, what are the other members like?" Kagome asked curiously. Konan ignored her a second time. Falling silent, Kagome finished her bath and got out. Grabbing a towel, she started to dry herself off. Once she had gotten dressed, she gathered her things to leave. Hand on the doorknob, she stopped when she heard Konan talk to her.

"The leader would like to talk with you after breakfast." Konan didn't say anything else, so Kagome nodded her head and left the hot springs.

**By the well in the Feudal Era**

A lone silver-haired demon lord stared at the well. A breeze passed by and moved the grass surrounding the well, but, aside from that, nothing moved.

It was dead silent. All the nearby birds and woodland animals had long since run away from this clearing, feeling the powerful predator nearby. A predator that was waiting for his prey.

Sesshomaru had been waiting for two days for Kagome to come back to the feudal era from her time. He needed something from her that only she could get him.

Strawberry pocky.

His courting with the inu-demoness from the Northern court hadn't gone too well. It seems that she was actually in love with one of the guards, and had caused a huge scandal when they proclaimed that they were already mated in front of the whole court. Right before Sesshomaru was going to announce that he was courting the woman to the demon court.

So, in other words, he needed comfort food.

…At least, that's what he would tell Kagome. It wasn't like he actually loved the demoness, but he wanted pocky, and he was sure that, with this story, he could manage to scam a couple of boxes out of Kagome if he played his cards right. He might even be able to convince her to get the double-dipped kind.

But the problem was that Kagome hadn't come yet. He had talked to the lecherous monk, and he had been told that Kagome wouldn't be back for a month, at least.

But that wouldn't do. He wanted the pocky _now_. So here he was, stuck staring at an old dried-up well.

An old dried-up well that lead to five-hundred years in the future.

The well that Kagome brought many wondrous things of the future from… It was also where Kagome got her pocky stash from.

Yep. That was the well. The plain old, not protected, unwatched, and don't think anybody is watching well.

Sesshomaru looked around the well, studying it carefully. How was it that this thing could send the little miko, even his idiot half-brother, into the future to gather pocky? Hmff. He could go to the future to if he wanted to. It just wasn't worth his time to go jumping into wells that led to the sweet, heavenly pocky that was on the other side.

Slowly looking around at all the trees for any signs he was being watched, he couldn't see a single thing besides the leaves in the wind. Searching for any aura, he quickly found that there were none close by.

Carefully, as though he was afraid that someone would pop out of nowhere and see him, he walked over to the well. Sesshomaru studied the well very closely, not overlooking anything. Looking down the well, he could easily see the bottom with his demon sight.

Quickly looking around the clearing once more, he jumped down the well.

Rin would be fine staying with the demon slayer and monk while he was gone. She wouldn't worry about him being gone since he disappeared regularly without a word.

Right before he touched to ground, the well lit up a soft red. Hm, he was sure that Kagome had told him that the well was supposed to glow light blue. Perhaps it was reacting to his youkai?

**With Kagome**

Kagome was nervous about the meeting that she was going to have to have with Leader. Had she messed up already? Yeah, she hadn't made dinner last night, but she was really sick. He would understand that, right?

Breakfast had done nothing to ease her nerves. Everyone at the table had been glaring at everyone else, and no one spoke a word. It didn't help that Deidara and Kisame kept stealing glances at her from the corners of their eyes.

Now, standing in front of Leader's office door, she felt herself start to go into a nervous sweat. Even though he had been extremely nice to her last time she talked to him, she couldn't help but feel like there was something… off.

Softly knocking on the door, she heard a "Come in," from inside the room. Opening the door, she debated on whether or not to just make a run for it right now. Pushing her fear aside, Kagome walked into the room, but hesitated in closing the door.

"Close the door, and sit down," Leader ordered, not looking up from his paperwork.

Kagome quickly closed the door, and sat down in the chair in front of the desk. Once she was situated, she waited for him to say something.

"Are you feeling better now, Kagome? I was informed that you had gotten ill. Is this true?"

Kagome tucked a stray hair behind her ear. "Yes, I was ill, but I'm better now." He nodded, still not looking up from his paperwork.

After a couple of seconds, Leader looked up from his paperwork, and grabbed a yellow package envelope from the corner of his desk and handed it to her.

Kagome took it, and looked it over. It was heavy and thick, but, besides that, nothing was out of the ordinary. She couldn't hear any ticking, so it wasn't a bomb. She hoped.

"That envelope contains the basic profiles and backgrounds on each Akatsuki member that you would need to know about, and your budget for buying food and cleaning supplies. Today, you are to take one of the Akatsuki members, I don't care which, and have them take you to the city market to get the needed food.

By now, almost all of the food we have in the kitchen should have gone bad or is about to. So you will need to get enough food for each member that requires food to last a month. When you are done, you are to leave the receipt in a white envelope, and slide it under the room door of the member Kakuzu. He manages the budget when he is here, and he should be arriving back at base with his partner, Hidan, tomorrow afternoon. If you are in need of anything else for your job in the future, then you are to talk to Kakuzu about it. There is also an amount of money in a smaller yellow envelope in there for your spending. You are dismissed."

Kagome nodded, and left the room. Walking down the hall, she felt the nervousness fall from her. She walked into the kitchen, and decided that she needed to make a list. But first, she would look over all of the member's profiles so she would know how much of each thing to buy.

Pulling the papers out of the envelope, she set aside the white and yellow envelopes that held the money. Looking over the first paper, she saw it was Leader's profile.

**A couple of minutes later**

Kagome's eyes almost twitched at how little information she had received. She still almost had no knowledge on any of the members. And she had no idea what much of what was written here meant.

Try to avoid banging her head multiple times on the table, she thought over what she _did_ know while putting the white envelope in her pocket and the rest of the papers back into the yellow envelope.

Leader's name was Pein. He had orange eyes and auburn hair. Blood type was A. He had multiple bodies, and didn't require food. The village he came from was Hidden In the Rain. Whatever the heck that was.

Then there was Konan. Besides saying stuff she already knew, like how she looked, the only thing Kagome learned was that she was Pein's assistant, and also came from the same village. On a side note it said "requires food". So at least she knew that she wasn't putting that tray there for nothing. Konan must have been eating it.

Deidara had more info on him, though. It said his attacking skills were in explosives made from the mouths on his hands. But, once again, Kagome already knew that because Deidara had shown her himself. His partner was Sasori of the Red Sand, which, yet again, she already knew. But she did find out that he was eighteen, the same age as her. She also found out that he came from the Village Hidden in the Rock.

Sasori's profile surprised her by saying that he was thirty-five years old. He looked like a twelve-year-old. But she guessed that it had something with being a puppet. It listed his attack, which was puppet manipulation, and his hair and eye color. He didn't require food, and his partner was Deidara. He came from the Village Hidden in the Sand.

Then she came to an almost blank profile of Zetsu. It showed a picture of a fly trap, and it took a moment for Kagome to realize that it wasn't a plant but a man. The only thing besides mentioning split personalities that was included was that he could gather his own food. Not really wanting to know about that one, she let it drop. On the partner list, it had a blank, just like his village.

Itachi's profile was nothing new except that he was nineteen, his blood type, and that he came from the Village Hidden in the Leaf.

Kisame's profile contained little besides things she already knew, also. The only things she learned were that he was twenty-nine, and came from the Village Hidden in the Mist.

Finally, she came to some new people who she hadn't met yet, and who actually had some info. First was the person that she would have to find the room of later. Kakuzu. It showed a picture of him, and then listed his features and that he need food. His village was Hidden in the Waterfall. His age was unknown. But it did state that he was immortal. So that was some news.

And the last member was a guy that goes by the name of Hidan. He had two pictures. One showed him all black with white markings, while the other was him looking more… well… normal? He was thirty-two years old, with purple eyes and white hair. He was immortal and followed the religion of Jashin. He also required food, and was from the Village Hidden in the Grass.

And that was all that she was given to work with. They were all serial killers, and that's what they gave her to prepare for living with them. Leader wanted her dead, didn't he?

Laying her head on the table for a minute, she heard someone enter the kitchen. Raising her head a little, she saw it was Kisame. And he was just standing there, staring at her. Blinking, Kagome waited for him to say something. A minute passed with nothing happening besides Kagome blinking a couple of times.

"Um, is there something you need?" Kagome asked.

Kisame looked down at her, before grabbing a seat next to her, and sitting down. "Hey, are you doing okay?" he asked softly.

Kagome was taken off-guard at the sudden question. "Yeah, I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

"Well, you and Itachi got into that fight, and I was wondering if you are okay. I also heard you got really sick."

"Oh, that. Yeah, I'm fine now. We were able to work it out, and he apologized to me. And he also helped me get better," Kagome dismissed it.

Kisame sputtered for a second. "H-he _apologized_ to you?"

"Yes."

"Wait. Are we talking about the same Itachi Uchiha here?"

"If you are talking about the one that lives here, then yes."

Kisame slumped back into his chair. Well, that was news. Couldn't say he was expecting that one.

"Oh, while you're here, are you doing anything today?" Kagome asked him eagerly.

"Well, I was going to get some training in today, but nothing else. Why?" Kisame asked.

"Leader told me to get one of you guy to take me to the nearest city market. I need to buy a month's supply of food for each member that eats. I was wondering if you could go with me?" Kagome inquired.

Kisame smiled. "Sure I'll go wi-"

"I will be going with Kagome," Itachi interrupted from the doorway.

Kisame and Kagome turned, surprised to see Itachi walking towards the sink. He grabbed a glass from the cabinet, and filled it from the sink.

"Are you sure Itachi? I don't mi-" Kisame started.

"Yes. I need something from the city, anyways. Your presence won't be needed," Itachi told him in a clipped cold tone.

Kisame quickly nodded. "If you say so, Itachi. Bye Kagome. I'll see you at dinner," he said before walking out of the kitchen.

Kagome turned and glared at Itachi. "What was that about?" she demanded hotly.

"Why did you not tell me first where you were going?" Itachi asked instead, not even bothering looking up from his cup.

"I just got the assignment. And I figured that you would be busy," Kagome said dismissively.

"You are to always tell me these things first," Itachi stated.

Kagome felt her anger start up. "You are _not_ the boss of me."

"I beg to differ. I still have control over you, Kagome. Now go get ready; I want to get there before noon," Itachi ordered as he set his cup down by the sink.

Caught unaware, Kagome felt the necklace force her body to her and Itachi's room to get ready.

As Kagome got ready to go, she went on a mental rant. 'Why that self-centered, bossy little, uhh! And I thought that, after last night, he might lighten up a little bit! But no! He's still the same arrogant man that he was before!

When Kagome was done getting dressed, she looked herself over quickly to make sure she looked okay. Her jeans were light blue hip-huggers with a slight flare at the bottom, but besides that they were just plain jeans. Her shirt was a bright red baby-tee, also plain. She had the white and yellow envelopes with the money in it in her pocket.

Smoothing out a couple of wrinkles on her shirt, she left the room and headed back to Itachi. Kagome was still brimming with anger towards him. She couldn't believe that he acted as if nothing had happened. She'd thought that maybe he cared about her a little after he had helped her last night and apologized. Guess she was wrong about that one.

Kagome walked into the kitchen to see that it was empty. Thinking about it, she quickly left for the living room. There, sitting on the couch, was Itachi, looking as emotionless as usual. He looked at her when she entered the room, and even though his face was still blank she just knew he was saying 'you took that long to get ready?'

"Oh, just shut up." Kagome scowled crossing her arms over her chest.

Itachi stood up, and started to walk towards the door. "I didn't say anything," Itachi said as he opened the door and looked at her over his shoulder. "Are you coming?"

Kagome sighed, and let her arms drop as she followed him out the door. What had she been expecting? For Itachi to suddenly start treating her like they were longtime friends? No. That wouldn't be happening for quite some time. Well, at least he didn't demand that she follow him this time.

Pausing in her step, a thought occurred to Kagome. 'Wait a minute. Who says I even want to be friends with this jerk? I still hate his guts for putting this rosary on me! Right?'

Kagome pulled on her hair, and started walking again. She couldn't believe this! Was she already forgiving this self-centered jerk for taking away her freedom?! Kagome was horrified at the very thought. Looking at his back as she followed him out of the base and into the alleyway, she realized that she was slowly forgiving him. Nooo! How could she be this forgiving?! She was so sure yesterday that she hated his guts. She didn't want to forgive him.

So what if he had helped her? So what if he had let her cry on his shoulder, and took care of and protected her? She would have gotten over it. She had done it before.

Why, oh why, did he have to show her he had a human side? Why did she have to be so forgiving? She should be planning his demise right now, not trying to make friends with him.

Lost in her mental torture, Kagome didn't realize that Itachi had made a turn after they had left the alleyway, and walked straight into a wall. A very hard red brick wall.

Itachi stopped when he heard a loud **thud**, and looked behind him to see Kagome bent over slightly, and holding her nose with blood lightly spilling from her fingers. Walking back to where she was, he looked for what she had hit. Seeing a small amount of blood on a wall, he had to hold back his desire to slap his hand to his face.

She had run straight into a brick wall. This moronic girl had actually - in broad daylight - run straight into a brick wall. He thought that only Kisame did these types of idiotic things.

"Are you so stupid that you have to have me command you to stay behind me, just so you can walk straight?" Itachi asked.

"No!" Kagome snapped, glaring at him while still holding her nose.

"Then I suggest that you watch where it is that you are putting your feet. Next time, it just might be a cliff," Itachi said, glaring at her. He reached into his medic pouch, and pulled out a white cloth. "Here. I do not wish to be seen with someone who looked like they were picking their nose," He held the cloth.

Kagome glared at him, but snatched the cloth nonetheless. "If I walk off a cliff, it will be to get away from you," Kagome mumbled, not really caring if he heard her or not. Forget forgiving him. He wasn't human at all! He was back to being the devil that she was going to have to make life miserable for, as it was her divine duty to do this!

Taking care off her nose as they continued for the city, she stared at Itachi, and noticed that he wasn't wearing the tacky cloak. He was wearing loose black pants and a dark blue tight t-shirt, with a fishnet long-sleeve shirt underneath. He had a sword strapped to his back and a few weapon pouches. She was sure there were more weapons hidden on him that she couldn't see, too.

"Hey, Itachi?" Kagome tried to catch his attention. He didn't answer, but he briefly turned his head towards her to show he was listening. "Why aren't you wearing your ugly cloak? You know, the one with the gay-ish little girly clouds on it. The one that also makes you look like a play-dough glob with a head."

Itachi's eyes twitched. He didn't know what 'play-dough' was, but he got the picture. He didn't know which one he wanted to burn more now. Kagome or the cloak she kept insulting. He didn't really much care for vanity, but this was going a little hard on the insults. He hoped that wasn't really what the cloak made him look like.

"The Akatsuki members are not required to wear the cloaks when not on missions," Itachi replied through gritted teeth.

"Oh, you sound so disappointed about that. Don't worry. I'm sure that soon enough you will get another mission that requires you to wear that gay-ish girly cloud cape soon enough. You just have to be patient for these things," Kagome said, patting him on the back and sounding vaguely sympathetic.

Itachi clenched his fists, debating whether or not to kill this girl. What was with her and always hinting that he was gay? Why did everyone always just assume that?

"You will remain quiet, Kagome, or I shall make you do something you will not like," Itachi warned.

Kagome snapped her mouth shut. She wasn't sure what it is that Itachi would demand her to do, but she knew it would be bad. For all she knew, he could be thinking of making her walk around the town in her underwear. Could he do that? That would count as being mentally harmful, right?

She would have to find a way to ask Bob about all the rules later to make sure of them, and to try and find more loopholes.

Itachi looked at the sun, and then stopped. Kagome barely stopped in time to not run into him. She would never hear the end of that one if it happened again so soon after the wall incident, she was sure of it.

"How fast can you run?" Itachi asked Kagome.

"Um, I'm an okay runner, I guess. I can't do that instant popping up out of nowhere act thing you ninjas seem to, but I'm pretty alright," Kagome told him.

Itachi frowned. He wanted to get there before it got too late. He would have to carry her to save time. If they took too much time there, Pein would get suspicious. They were far enough away from base right now Pein wouldn't know the slight change in direction.

Itachi turned around, and debated the best way to carry Kagome. He didn't want both of his hands occupied, in case of an attack, so that took out bridal style or piggy-back. Smirking, he quickly grabbed Kagome while she was looking at the scenery, and flung her over his shoulder, then took off running.

Kagome had been quietly looking at a bird making its nest, when the next second she felt the wind knocked out of her in an all-too-familiar way. Looking up at what she thought would be her new kidnapper, she was surprised when she saw it was just Itachi.

"Itachi," Kagome demanded his attention once she had gotten her breath back.

"Hn."

"Why are we running? Are we being attacked, followed, or are you just trying to piss me off?" Kagome asked calmly.

"This way will save time," was Itachi's only reply.

"I see." Kagome nodded to herself. "So you _are_ just trying to piss me off. In that case," Kagome sucked in a deep breath. "You put me down right NOW! What do you think you are doing, carrying me off like some barbaric half-wit? This HURTS you know! I'm going to have a bruise the size of a basketball if you keep this up; I'm not luggage, you know! I am capable of walking on my OWN here!" Kagome started screaming at him.

Itachi sighed. He knew that her talking calmly at first was too good to last. It would take half an hour at this pace to get where he wanted to be. He could only hope that Kagome wouldn't scream the whole way there.

**A while later…**

Kagome was playing with her hair with one hand, while propping herself up on her other fist, as she told Itachi blonde jokes to try and pass the time. "So then the blonde went in and told the mirror…"

"Kagome. I would like it if you were to be silent at this moment," Itachi said, shocking Kagome out of her joke.

Kagome looked around the clearing they were in, trying to see why they had stopped. There was nothing special about this place. She looked up to see Itachi looking around the clearing, clearly searching for something.

Finally, he picked her up off his shoulder, and dropped her behind him. Kagome was about ready to start yelling at him for it when she saw he was looking at the trees. Thinking they were about to be attacked, she mentally cursed herself for forgetting to bring her own weapons. Even if they were just going shopping, she should have brought her dagger, at the least.

Itachi finally found the right tree after a moment of searching. He was surprised that Kagome hadn't started yelling at him for dropping her like that yet. Walking up to the hollow tree, he felt around inside of it for the lever.

When his hand hit it something, he grabbed it and pushed down. It was a little bit stiff from not being used much, but it still worked. Stepping back from the tree, Itachi waited for the gears to start up.

Kagome was shocked when she saw stairs start to fall down underground in the middle of the clearing.

They weren't under attack. Itachi had dropped her on purpose! First chance she got, she was going to get back at him.

"Where are we, Itachi?" Kagome asked. It was pretty obvious that this wasn't the city.

"This is an old outpost of my clan. This is where you will repay me for my help," Itachi said before he started down the stairs. Kagome sighed, and followed Itachi into the hidden underground outpost.

Looking around the small square room, Kagome saw that it only had the basics. A cot, a small kitchen, a room that lead to a small bathroom, and there were shelves filled with supplies and weapons. It was also all very filthy. It looked liked no-one had been in the room for at least a year, if the dust was anything to go by.

Itachi waited for Kagome to finish getting in the outpost before he closed the door behind her by pushing a button of the wall.

"So why did we have to be in here to heal you?" Kagome asked, confused.

"I do not wish for others to know of my failing sight. I have many enemies, and do not wish for them to use it against me. This is the place you will heal me every time it is needed," Itachi said as he sat down on the cot.

"Okay," Kagome shrugged. It didn't really matter to her where it was that they did the healing. She just wished he could have given her some warning beforehand.

"Do you want me to do the healing right now?" Kagome asked. Itachi gave her a stiff nod.

"Is there anything that you will need before you start?" Itachi inquired.

"Um, I'll need you to explain the basics of your eyes to me before I start the healing, so I don't mess with anything I'm not supposed to," Kagome answered seriously.

Itachi nodded in agreement. It would be best if she knew what she was working with. "My eyes contain my clan bloodline technique. They have different levels of power, and have the ability to make illusions, copy others' attacks, and a few other things as well." He told her the main basics.

Kagome nodded seriously. Healing his eyes would be hard. She had to make sure to not purify them while fixing them, and keep their connection to the mind extremely strong. Suddenly, a thought popped up in her head.

Itachi watched as Kagome's face turned from one of the utmost seriousness to a happy reassuring fake smile. The type of smile that nurses gives you right before they inject you with a _long_ needle that makes you unconscious. She was planning something. He just knew it. Glaring at her, he waited for her to say something.

'_HELLO, ITACHI!'_ Bob suddenly shouted in his head. Itachi winced from the sudden and unexpected noise. It looked like Bob was awake.

'You will stop shouting immediately,' Itachi ordered.

'_Jeez, talk about killjoy,'_ Bob said, more quietly that previously. '_So what cha' up to?'_

'I am having Kagome heal my eyes. Though I do not trust that smile she has at the moment.'

'_Hm… that's not her 'I will hurt you' smile, so you don't have to really worry too much about it,' _Bob answered in a dismissive tone.

'I don't trust her,' Itachi told Bob plainly.

There was a moment of silence before Bob spoke back up. '_She is one of the most honorable people I know. She would never hurt someone she has promised to help. If you don't want her to heal your eyes, than go blind. Other than taking your brother's or Madara's eyes, this is your only choice,'_ Bob said seriously.

'…I will let her heal my eyes. But if I feel something is wrong, I will not hesitate to slit her throat,' Itachi stated.

'_Knowing you, I don't doubt it,_" Bob responded dryly._ "You really need to work on the whole 'trusting others' thing. So you went through a couple of major betrayals in the past. Big deal. Do you have any idea how many betrayals I've seen that people have gotten over?'_ Bob asked.

'How do you know of these?' Itachi questioned the Jewel angrily.

'_I just thought it would be right that, if you got to invade Kagome's personal life, someone should be able to invade yours as well. It's a give and take type of deal,'_ Bob informed Itachi smugly.

"Okay," Kagome spoke up, breaking Itachi and Bob's conversation. "If you will just lay down, then I can get started," Kagome said a little bit too cheerily for Itachi's comfort. Nevertheless, Itachi laid down, and waited to find out what to do next. "Now, just keep your eyes closed. They may feel warm, or like when your leg is asleep and it gets all prickly. This is normal, and means it is working. If it becomes a burning pain, then stop me," Kagome said, now very serious again.

Itachi gave a sharp nod and closed his eyes. Soon, he felt Kagome gently put her hands over his eyes, resting them there lightly. After a couple of seconds, he felt warmth coming from her hands and slowly creeping into his eyes. It felt like laying in a sunbeam in the spring.

Itachi didn't know how long he had been laying there before the warm feeling turned into a pins-and-needles feeling. At first, he was slightly alarmed by the sudden feeling, before he remembered that Kagome had warned him of it. No longer as much at ease, Itachi waited to see if anything else would suddenly change.

Then, almost as soon as the pins-and-needles came, it was gone, and he felt Kagome pulling her hands away. He suddenly felt much colder, and found himself missing the warmth of her hands on him.

"I'm all done now. You can open your eyes now, Itachi," Kagome said softly.

Slowly opening his eyes, to give them time to adjust to the lighting, he was shocked by the clarity he now had seeing things. It was like he had been walking in a morning fog for the past years, and now it was like the sun had come out and the fog was gone.

Unknowingly, Itachi started to smile. Not an 'I'm going to hurt you and enjoy every second of it' smile. It was a real, true smile. One that sent Kagome's heart rate skyrocketing.

Feeling warmth rising to her cheeks, Kagome quickly looked away so that Itachi couldn't see it. She couldn't believe this! All it took was one smile to send her blushing like a little school girl?! The last time that she had started blushing like this was when she was still crushing on Inuyasha.

… … …

All thoughts came to an abrupt halt. She couldn't possibly… She could never… It just was **not** possible. It was just that simple; it wasn't possible that she could be crushing on… on… on…

She couldn't even say it, it was that impossible! She didn't have a crush on him, and that was that. End of story. It was just random hormones acting up at very inopportune moments.

Finalizing her decision, Kagome turned back to look at Itachi. She felt the bush springing back up to her face. That is, until she looked into his beautiful, deep, Sharingan pin-wheel-ish, hot pink eyes.

Kagome just stood there for a second. Itachi blinked. Yep, his eyes were still pink. Feeling a smile trying to break out, Kagome didn't even try to hold it back.

"How's your vision?" Kagome asked sweetly.

"Hn. It is acceptable," was Itachi's snobbish reply. It didn't get to Kagome though. Nope, she wasn't the one who had hot pink eyes right now. All she had to do to get her spirits back up was to look deeply into his pink eyes. Then her spirits will be back to top notch.

"Do you have any color tint, or anything like that?" Kagome asked, smiling.

"No. Let's go. I want to hurry up and get back to base before nightfall," Itachi ordered as he got off the cot, and pushed a button on the wall. The stairs fell back down, and Kagome followed Itachi back outside.

Looking at the placement of the sun, Itachi guessed it had taken half an hour to heal his eyes. It was a reasonable amount of time.

Kagome blinked, and squinted her eyes until they were adjusted to the bright light. Now that her humor was over, she was feeling the drain of healing. While it usually didn't take much out of her, Itachi's eyes were harder than she thought they would be to heal. Then the color change had taken a bit out of her, but it was so totally worth it. She couldn't wait to see Itachi's reaction to his eyes when he saw himself in a mirror.

Of course, she had no intention of being anywhere near him then, after she saw the look on his face. She already had an escape all planed out, though she wasn't looking forward to when he found her, because he would. She could always find Inuyasha from the pull of the rosary. There was just always a small tug in the back of your mind towards the rosary you had placed on someone.

Hopefully, by the time he found her, he would have cooled off a little of his steam. He couldn't get too mad about a little prank like this, could he?

**End Chapter**

Okay, I need to give credit to WhiteDemoness11 for the pink eyes prank. She sent this prank to me in chapter four and I really wanted to use it. So shout out to her.

Now for the info you need. I currently have writers block. And not to make a lot of excuses, but I'm going to be moving at anytime. (the date keeps changing. It's annoying.) So I don't know when my computer will be turned off. So if I don't update for a long time thats your reason.

Okay, thanks for reading that. Please review. I don't think any amount of begging will make you review more anyways so no point in lowering myself to that. :P

Probs


	11. Run Away!

Yo! Sorry this chapter is so late. I've been really busy with my move and all. But the chapter is here and that's all that really matters. Right? Hopefully with the intro of three characters it will make it up to you all.

Thank you all for the reviews that you have sent me. And I got a few really good long review that just made my day. Thanks again to kawaiichibishun for being my beta reader.

Disclaimer: I don't own any famous (or unfamous) manga characters that are mentioned in this story. But I do own Bob's amazing personality! Insert evil laugh

**Chapter Eleven: Runaway!!**

Itachi watched as Kagome picked out different vegetables and put back others. He would give her one thing: she knew what she was doing while shopping. She seemed to know what food to buy slightly unripe, so it wouldn't go bad before she used it, and she knew which foods were ready to eat right then.

Though, he was starting to get ticked off at all the unhidden points and stares. What was wrong with these people? Yes, he was good looking and all, but he had never gotten _this_ reaction. Some people were actually laughing, that's right, _laughing_ at him.

"Are you almost done yet?" Itachi asked, irritation clear in his voice. They had been shopping for about an hour now, and the stares were starting to get to him

The worst thing was that he didn't know **why** they were acting this way. Kagome pretended that she didn't notice, but, when she thought he wasn't looking, he could see her smiling. She knew what was wrong, and she wasn't telling him.

"Yeah, I'm almost done. I can't buy too much, because we won't be able to carry it back if I do. I just have to get some rice, then we should be done," Kagome said, looking at what she had gotten so far. She was only getting enough to last half the month. Hopefully, with everyone coming in and out at random times, there wouldn't be a need to come back to the market before next month.

"Hn," was all Itachi gave as a response.

"Here, hold these so I can look at the rice," Kagome ordered, shoving several bags into Itachi's hands. He was now holding all of the groceries.

Itachi glared at her. The bags weren't particularly heavy, but he didn't want to have to carry them. Shrugging off his glare, Kagome started for the next shop.

Walking up to the stand, Kagome could see that it was run by an elderly man and his young granddaughter. The little girl was only about four years old, and she was playing with her little doll on the ground next to her grandfather's seat. The girl looked up when Itachi's shadow fell over her.

Itachi was glaring at the people laughing at him, which sent them running, though not as fast as they normally would. Suddenly, his ears were assaulted by a happy, high-pitched, girlish squeal. Wincing at the sudden noise, he looked down to see a little girl with short brown hair grinning madly, and clapping her hands.

The little girl suddenly pointed to Itachi's eyes, and tugged on her grandfather's pant leg. "Lookie, Gampa, that pretty man has pink eyes!" She giggled happily.

Itachi's froze. Quickly taking out a kunai, which caused the little girl to scream, he used the reflective blade to see his eyes. Sure enough, they were a bright hot pink. If you looked closely enough, you could even see little specks of bright purple in them, too.

It took Itachi a little less than two seconds to realize the person who did this to him. The same exact person who was, at this moment, running for her life, and dodging expertly through the crowd.

As soon as the little girl had pointed at Itachi's eyes, Kagome knew that this was her cue to make a run for it. So that is exactly what she did.

Dashing through the crowd, she looked for a good place make her move. After years of dodging Naraku's mass demon hordes, weaving through a crowd like this was easy. These people even got out of her way half the time, instead of coming at her with fangs and claws.

Seeing an alleyway that led to a different crowded part of the city, Kagome made a sharp turn for it. Looking behind her, she saw Itachi trying to make it through the crowd not too far behind her.

'He's pretty fast on the recovery isn't he?' Kagome thought, with a mental sweatdrop.

Two kunai snapped Kagome out of her thoughts as they whizzed past her head. The kunai hit the ropes holding some crates up to the wall in the narrow alley, causing them to come tumbling down, blocking her path and almost toppling on top of her.

Kagome skidded to a stop. Turning around to see Itachi slowly walking into the alley, Kagome, needless to say, started to panic. 'What to do, what to do?!' Kagome rambled on and on in her mind. Then, like a ton of bricks, it hit her that Sesshomaru had **trained** her how to jump over high things. Suddenly feeling very stupid, Kagome simply jumped over the crates and took off into another crowd.

Itachi followed Kagome into the next throng of people. To say that he was slightly upset over the harmless prank wouldn't quite be correct. He was absolutely **furious**. When he caught that girl, he was going to let her know just how ticked he was at her.

Looking around in the crowd, Itachi was shocked to see Kagome standing in the middle of it, smiling. She saw him, and blew a raspberry. Enraged, Itachi stormed after her.

Kagome freely smiled at Itachi. When he was close enough, she adopted a frightened face, and let out an ear-piecing scream, causing everybody in the crowd to look at her. Then, she shakily pointed a single finger at an intimidating approaching Itachi.

"Somebody! Help Me!" Kagome cried out in distress as loudly as she could. "My abusive ex-boyfriend is trying to **Kill Me**!!" she exclaimed with tears running down her face. "Please! Somebody _has _to help me!!" Kagome desperately shrieked.

Itachi could _feel_ the murderous intent in the air, worse than when he was in battle. Suddenly, he was being attacked on all sides by men shouting at him that he was a worthless scumbag.

Having to dodge the attacks, he was at a slight disadvantage because he couldn't hurt any of these people. Pein had ordered not to attack anyone in this city because he wanted to a good record here. Then there was the plain out mass number of them. He was slowly getting pushed away from a crying Kagome.

Itachi looked closely at Kagome. While she was crying, there was a small, barely noticeable, upturn of her lips. She clutched her stomach in what looked like pain, causing people around her to be concerned as they tried to comfort her. Oh, she was in pain all right. Her tears and pain were from laughing at him so hard. When he got his hands on her later, she would face his pure hatred and wrath.

Kagome couldn't help it. What she had just pulled off was too much to hold back her laughter completely, so choking sounds started. Lucky for her, the people thought that the choking sounds coming from her were fearful sobs that she was trying to hold back.

Okay, so maybe she hadn't _completely_ forgiven Itachi for slapping her, but this was slowly making up for it. She didn't think that this many people would actually attack him, but the more the merrier in this case.

Kagome was snapped out of her thoughts when her arm felt like it was almost ripped out of its socket, and she was being forced to run quickly or risk being brutally dragged to death. Her head snapped up to see the back the person who was kidnapping her now.

It was a boy about fifteen or sixteen years old with wild blonde hair going in all directions. The hair had probably never seen a comb in all its existence. He was taller than her by a couple of inches, and would probably keep growing before he was done. The guy was wearing a black jacket and pants with bright orange highlights.

Naruto looked back at the girl he was helping get away. She was looking at him in shock. Not wanting her to get scared, he gave her a bright smile.

He had seen the whole commotion, and saw that no one was actually helping her _get away_. So he decided to take the important action of getting her to someplace safe from her ex-boyfriend. He could see that the woman had a huge purple bruise on her left cheek, testament to her abuse. He didn't get to see the ex - lucky for that guy, or else he would have let the guy have it for harming this young lady.

"Don't worry, Miss. I'll get you to someplace safe. Don't you worry about it!" Naruto exclaimed while still practically dragging her.

Kagome grimaced. Okay, maybe yelling _that_ out wasn't one of her brightest ideas. Now someone was dragging her into some random part of the city thinking she needed protection from Itachi.

Kagome thought about the glare of death Itachi had given her before being dragged away, and felt a shiver go up her spine. Okay, maybe she _did_ need some major protection right now. He would be out for blood after what all she'd done to him today. Unlike other times, she probably wouldn't be able to talk Itachi out of murdering her, then mauling her body into an unrecognizable form afterwards, this time.

Having a newfound determination, Kagome took off like a bullet, and started dragging the poor blonde boy behind her. All that running training from friends in the feudal era wasn't for nothing, after all. It was to avoid getting killed in situations like this. Yep. Her friends knew that someday they wouldn't be there when she randomly ticked off some psychopath. So they had trained her how to fight, but - more importantly - they especially taught her the best way to run away.

Naruto was shocked when the girl took off like a bat out of blazes, and started dragging him like a rag doll. Tripping a couple of times before finding his feet, Naruto tried to keep up with the woman. It was surprisingly difficult to manage without the use of chakra.

Deciding to take charge, Naruto pumped chakra into his legs before grabbing the woman around the waist, and jumping to the rooftops. He was surprised when the woman didn't tightly hold on to him. Instead, she started maneuvering herself to his back.

Kagome was briefly shocked when the blonde boy started roof jumping, but quickly got over it. Not feeling comfortable being held in the way she was, she started maneuvering herself to the boy's back like she had many times with Inuyasha.

After a while of roof jumping, the blonde boy slowed down, and jumped into a street with little activity below. Kagome slid herself off his back, and took a step back to give the guy some personal space.

As the blonde boy turned around, Kagome took note of his facial features. Brilliant blue eyes that were almost neon were the first thing that her eyes landed on. They shone with a friendliness that matched his wide smile. He had a playful fox-like look to him and deep dimples. He was an overall pretty good-looking teen. But he was too young for her.

"There, we should be far enough away from your ex for him to not find you," Naruto said, grinning at her.

Kagome smiled gratefully. She could tell he was a good kid. "Thanks for your help. I think I can take it from here," Kagome said as she started walking away. She had taken three steps before she felt herself being dragged backwards.

"Why don't you have lunch with me before you go?" Naruto asked, still dragging her. "I know a great place where we can have some ramen. You like ramen, right?" Naruto asked, though he never stopped pulling her along.

"Um, yeah, but I really…" Kagome started before Naruto started up again.

"Great! We're almost there! I travel a lot, so I'm happy I found this place for while I'm here," Naruto exclaimed.

"But I really ca…" was all Kagome got out before Naruto once again interrupted her.

"Oh, you're worried about the bill, aren't you?" Kagome was about to deny it, but Naruto just continued on. "Don't worry about that. I'll pay for us. Pervy Sage just gave me some spending money anyways." Naruto didn't mention that when he 'gave' him the spending money, it meant that Naruto had pick-pocketed the old perv, and was planning to spend all the money to get back at him for leaving the boy behind in the last village.

"That's nice and all, but I really need to get…" Kagome tried to break out of Naruto's grip, which had somehow shifted from her shoulder to her right wrist without her noticing.

"Oh, you need to go grocery shopping? I'll help you with that later!" Naruto smiled back at her, not getting that she was trying to get away. "But first, I'm hungry, so we'll just have a quick lunch before that."

Kagome let her head sag in defeat. How thick can one guy get? Guess she was going to eat ramen with this idiot whether she wanted to or not.

**At Some Random Ramen Shop**

Kagome smiled as a medium bowl of chicken ramen was placed in front of her. It seemed like no matter where she went, ramen was there for her. Like a longtime friend, it would help her by being a constant in her life.

Naruto happily dug into his ramen as soon as the waiter's hand left the bowl. He looked over at the young lady only a few years older than himself as she ate her ramen with a gentle smile of contentment on her face. Then, it struck him that he didn't know her name yet. Or given her his, for that matter. Slapping a hand to his face, he thought about how rude he must seem.

"Hey," Naruto called out to get her attention. She looked at him from the corner of her eye, telling him she was listening. "Sorry for forgetting my matters earlier. I'm Naruto Uzumaki, future Hokage of Konoha village! Believe it!" Naruto introduced himself.

"Okay, why wouldn't I believe it?" Kagome asked, confused by his favorite add-on. If the dude said he was going to be the Kage of his village, then who was she to say he couldn't? She silently thanked Kisame for filling her in on ninja ranking. She'd thought at the time that she would just use it against Itachi, but now it was coming in very handy.

Naruto was shocked at the question for a moment. Then he gave her an ear splitting smile. "So, what's your name?" he asked her, changing the subject. It felt good to have someone just believe him, no questions asked.

Kagome held out her chopstick-free hand to Naruto. "Kagome Higurashi. It's a pleasure to be in the presence of a future leader," she told him with a smile.

Naruto could have hugged her to death right then. He grabbed her hand, and gave her a firm handshake to show his respect for her, which she returned.

"So, where are you going to go after this?" Naruto asked.

"Um… back to my workplace, I guess." Kagome said, unsure. She wasn't to keen on the idea of the return trip with Itachi.

"But couldn't your ex find you there?" Naruto asked wide-eyed.

"Umm…" Kagome wasn't sure what to tell the kid. He might get mad if she told him the truth, but if she didn't tell him now, then she might really pay for it later. "The guy chasing me wasn't really my ex," she began slowly. She looked over to see Naruto looking confused, so she continued. "He's a friend of mine that I played a trick on, and it seemed like he was about to kill me." Kagome blushed.

Naruto got a look of understanding, and his mouth made a perfect 'o' shape. Kagome waited for him to get mad at her for pulling that, when she heard him break out into a laughing fit. Kagome watched as the blonde boy almost fell off his barstool laughing.

Kagome sweat-dropped as she thought over what she had done. Sure, it might be a little funny… okay, depending on who you are it could be really funny, but it shouldn't be _that_ funny. Starting to get concerned, Kagome put a hand on Naruto's shoulder to keep him balanced so he wouldn't fall off his stool.

After a minute, Naruto calmed down, but was still breathing a little hard, and he was red in the face. He looked over at Kagome, and smiled brightly at her.

"I needed that," he informed her. "Pervy-sage has been seriously torturing me lately with training. It's nice to have a laugh like that. So what'd your friend do that got you so riled up to do that to him?"

"Well…" Kagome thought about the rosary and the slap, but she didn't think it would be a good idea to give him the whole truth. "It's been building up for a while now, you could say," Kagome decided to answer instead. "So I made his eyes hot pink, then he got mad." Kagome shivered in fear at the last part.

Naruto laughed when he saw her wide, fear-struck eyes at the last comment. He knew he must get a similar look when thinking about a mad Sakura. Seeing it on someone else, though, was funny.

Kagome saw his amused look, and snapped at him. "It's not funny! He will _skin me alive_ when he finds me!" Kagome declared using her hands for emphasis. Then she went back to quaking in fear, holding her ramen bowl in her hands for the comforting warmth.

Naruto laughed at her expression a little before patting her on the back. "Don't worry. You can hang with me until he cools off a little," Naruto offered with an open smile. Kagome smiled back with gratitude.

"Thanks," she said. "You may be stuck with me for a while for offering that," she half-joked, but with a serious undertone to it. Being slightly paranoid, Kagome checked the nearby auras for any sign of Itachi, and almost jumped out of her skin when she felt a strong - but covered - demon fox aura sitting right next to her.

Naruto felt her alarm, and looked at her questioningly. "Is something the matter?" he asked.

Kagome looked at him out of the corner of her eye as she studied his aura closely. He almost had an aura like Inuyasha's, but Naruto's aura had two completely different mindsets clashing, instead of blending together to join the human and demon side.

Lowering her voice, Kagome spoke out with a calm, steady voice, so as to not raise alarm with other people in the ramen stand. "Naruto, why do you have a demon aura clashing with yours?"

Naruto was shocked, to say the least. How could she know about the fox demon inside of him? He was sure she wasn't from Konoha. Even if she was from his village, she wasn't old enough to know about the sealing.

"Please, just answer the question. I do not wish to raise alarm here, or make a scene," Kagome continued in the same smooth voice.

A calm and serious expression fell on Naruto's face. "I've had a demon sealed inside me since I was born," was all Naruto said. He didn't want to say more than was necessary. He saw Kagome nod, before smiling.

"I had to make sure. Don't worry about it, though. I'm not from around here. Where I'm from, there are many more demons then here. I know quite a few, and am close friends with some of them. If it wasn't for that, then I wouldn't even have noticed the demon aura you carry. Your secret is safe," Kagome said with a kinder emotion in her voice this time, but still spoke low so no one would overhear what they were talking about. The fact that Naruto became so serious when she said this was testament to the fact it was a secret.

More cautious of her then before, Naruto nodded, and started on his next bowl of ramen. "So you're not from around here?" he tried to start up a conversation to break the tension a little.

Kagome knew what he was doing, and was grateful for it. She nodded happily before answering. "That's right. I'm hoping to one day go back to my homeland, but for now I'm stuck here, so I'm trying to make the best of it."

Naruto gave her a smile. It still wasn't as big as before, but it was there nonetheless. "It's great that you are doing that. What's it like where you're from?" he asked, curiosity getting the best of him.

"Well, it depends on what part of where I'm from. Some places are much more advanced than here; others are more natural. But I love both of them a lot, so this place isn't so bad. It's a nice in-between of the two. So what about you? What's Konoha like? You mentioned that you didn't know this place well because you travel a lot. What cities have you been to?" Kagome questioned him hoping to get some more information on the world she'd gotten stuck in.

As the afternoon wore on, Naruto found himself getting comfortable around Kagome. She was easy to talk to, and she truly didn't seem to care about the fox. He could talk about almost anything with her and not have to worry about rejection. It was… nice; there was no better word describe it.

Jiraiya showed up about half an hour after noon and joined in the conversions - after hitting on Kagome. After so much time with Miroku, who was a lot more attractive then Jiraiya, almost nothing he said affected Kagome, and she just told him he was to old for her.

Naruto told her almost everything he could think of. She was told about his hopes and dreams, about how growing up was rough because of him being 'special', as she dubbed it. When they started to talk about his friends, Gaara and how he was special popped up as well. Then Sasuke came up. She promised that she would try and keep an eye out for him, and asked for a description. Naruto pulled out a picture of team seven, and pointed out Sasuke.

Kagome looked at the picture in complete shock. He was almost a mini Itachi replica, with a few differences. Maybe they were closely related? She remembered that Itachi's profile said he was from Konoha, so it was possible. Once she was sure that she would be able to recognize the boy if she came across him, she nodded her head. It didn't take long because, if she needed a reminder, she could just think of a mini Itachi without the lines on his face - and more emo-looking.

It was almost two before Kagome felt a warning bell go off in the back of her head. But for the life of her, she couldn't think what would be so important. As seconds went by, the warning continued getting stronger until it hit her. Itachi was coming her way fast, and he was still ticked. What she felt was a deathly intent against her health.

Standing up quickly, Kagome shocked Naruto out of what he was talking about. "What's the matter, Kagome?" Naruto asked when he saw her panicking.

"Um, remember that _friend_ you saved me from?" Kagome didn't have to say anything else for Naruto to get what was going on.

Naruto got up to grab Kagome and run as soon as he felt an intense chakra signal coming quickly towards the ramen stand. But, before he could grab her, the bamboo door opened, and there stood someone he truly wasn't expecting. Except something was slightly _different_ about him, Naruto noticed, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

Itachi smirked as he felt the pull of the rosary that lead him toward Kagome, until he could sense her himself. She was hiding in the commoners' part of town. Following her unique miko powers and the pull of the rosary, he soon came to a ramen stand from which he heard Kagome speaking to someone.

Stepping through the bamboo door, he was surprised to see that, out of all the people in the world Kagome could be talking to, it had to be Jiraiya, one of the Three Sannins. And Naruto Uzumaki, the Kyuubi vessel.

But he didn't care, for the moment. The important thing now was to get Kagome somewhere private so he could make her get rid of the pink tint before getting his revenge.

Because let's face it, he wouldn't be _nearly_ as intimidating with a pink-eyed glare. It wouldn't do any good for her to be thinking of girly things while he was threatening her. It just wouldn't work out, and would only serve to kick his already bruised ego.

Kagome broke out into a nervous sweat when she saw how calm Itachi looked on the outside. She had learned the hard way to be more scared when the person looked calm.

"Oh, hey there, Itachi." Kagome slowly inched back, hands feeling for something behind her. Itachi took a step forward. "So what have you been up to all day?" she asked as calmly as she could, which wasn't all that calm considering how he kept creeping towards her.

Itachi noticed her backing up, and followed her. In an odd sense, he had the memory of them doing this same thing in the forest. He stopped moving forward when the Kyuubi vessel stepped in front of Kagome protectively, kunai already in hand.

"What are you doing here, Itachi?" Naruto demanded. "And how do you know Kagome?"

Itachi glared at the boy who was blocking his path to Kagome. 'Does this boy really mean to stop me from getting ahold of her?' Itachi wondered as he reached for his kunai.

Kagome could feel the tension growing rapidly. It would be obvious to say that these two knew each other, and weren't on the best of terms.

Not wanting Naruto to get hurt, 'cause let's face it, she didn't have any idea how mentally unstable these ninjas could be, Kagome stepped in front of Naruto, blocking him from Itachi.

Smiling brightly, Kagome tried to talk the tension out of the air. She had seen Miroku do it enough times to at least _try_. The other customers had already paid and left out the other door as soon as Itachi had stepped into the stand, like animals fleeing from a wolf.

"Well, I see you two already know each other, so there's no need for introduction. So why don't you join us for some late lunch, Itachi?" Kagome asked with a charm she had seen Miroku use a half million times. She looked at Itachi, seeming completely calm, except for the nervous sweat and darting eyes. But, if you ignored those, she was the picture of calm. Looking at Itachi's glare, she could tell they weren't going to have a nice chat over lunch.

Itachi glared at her, knowing she was trying to make him forget about his anger at her. Yeah, that wasn't going to work. Taking another step towards her now that the Kyuubi's vessel was out of the way, he could just imagine the torturous pain he was going to put her through. Suddenly, he heard mad laughing.

Jiraiya had been thinking that something was different as soon as Itachi stepped into the door. Not only was he not wearing his Akatsuki cloak, but there was something off, as if someone had made themselves a copy of him but forgot one small detail. Then, as he glared at the beautiful young woman his pupil had been spending the day with, it hit him.

He remembered Naruto saying that the woman was hiding from a friend because she had destroyed the man's pride, but this… this was the famed Itachi Uchiha's pride she had demolished - by turning his eyes PINK! It was just too much for one of their worst enemies to be seen like that. He was SO going to tell everyone in Konoha about this. This _must_ be proof that Itachi was gay, like many of the other people his age joked.

Itachi's eye twitched as he watched the old ninja start rolling on the floor laughing. Really, it was bad, but it wasn't nearly _that_ bad.

…The old man had still not stopped, except now Naruto had taken a better look at him, and was now trying to hold back his laughter. That woman was _**so**_ going to get what was coming to her.

Kagome started to panic when Naruto and Jiraiya started to laugh at Itachi's eyes. Yeah, that was _so _not going to help her avoid his wrath. She could, even now, see his rage growing by the moment. She needed to get these guys to stop laughing, and she need to get them to stop **now**.

So Kagome did the first thing that came to mind; she kicked Naruto in the shin, since he was the nearest one to her. A now bruise-sporting Naruto calmed down quiet a bit, rubbing his shin.

"What was that for, Kagome?" Naruto whined.

"You're **not** helping!" Kagome hissed through clenched teeth, facing him. "Do you **want** him to feed my mangled corpse to the birds on a pike?!" she demanded in a harsh whisper not wanting to give Itachi any ideas.

Jiraiya had finally calmed down enough to think clearly. Looking at Itachi and Kagome, he got a little suspicious. He could tell there was a connection; was she working for the Akatsuki as a spy? No, Itachi wouldn't have revealed himself like this if that was it. Not to mention her story **did** match up with the facts so plainly given; he had to make sure he didn't start laughing again at the thought of the story. But who was she, then? Not just any person could make friends with Itachi Uchiha. What was their connection? And from how mad Itachi looked, that connection had to run pretty deep. As Jiraiya pondered, Itachi had started to talk to Kagome.

"Kagome." Said person froze at hearing her name be spoken so calmly from her soon-to-be murderer's mouth. "Why did you run off earlier?" Itachi asked her, deceptively calm, as he took a step forward. Naruto saw him, and glared. Itachi didn't want to start a fight here, so he had to go about this situation carefully.

Kagome did a double take; she wasn't expecting **that** question. "Um…" Then something hit her like a ton of bricks. In her rush to save her life, she had left Itachi with all the groceries. The whole reason that they were even in the city was because Pein had told her to get the month's food supplies. If they didn't recover those he was going to so be ticked off at her. Then, she remembered that Itachi had asked her a question, and was glaring at her as he waited for her answer. "Could I hear the question again?" Kagome asked. Itachi's glare just intensified.

Naruto saw Itachi starting to move forward again, and put a hand on Kagome's shoulder to shift her behind him. Within the second, Naruto could feel his wrist held in a tightening grip that would break it if it wasn't released soon. Looking up, he could see an enraged Itachi, Sharingan activated, holding his wrist off of Kagome's shoulder. He seemed deceptively calm overall, except for the obvious rage in his eyes.

Jiraiya's eyes widened in amazement. Even if it was just for a second, he had seen Itachi get slightly jealous when Kagome was talking to Naruto, and then, when Naruto touched her, it was the breaking point. That was their connection. If there was anything as famous as an Uchiha's good looks and talents, it was the male's possessive streak over the girl they liked. Any guy who didn't want to end up missing their front teeth knew better than to get near a girl that they knew an Uchiha had their eyes on. Well, this was an interesting discovery, to say the least. But looking at the girl, Jiraiya couldn't say he disagreed with the choice.

Kagome jumped when Itachi suddenly appeared no less than two inches in front of her. But, for once, his attention wasn't on her while doing this. Looking over her shoulder, she was just in time to see Naruto as he yelled out as Itachi shattered his wrist.

"Itachi!" Kagome shrieked, and pushed him away from Naruto. Naruto took a step back, cradling his injured wrist, as soon as he was no longer held there.

Itachi let her push him back after she saw what he did. He hadn't liked it when she had turned her back to him to whisper to the boy, and he really didn't like seeing the boy's hand on her shoulder. He knew he was getting jealous, just like when he read about the other males in her diary. But unlike those times, he could take his anger out on something now. His satisfaction was short-lived, however, as he saw Kagome hurry over to Naruto and check his wrist, glaring at Itachi from the corner of her eye when she saw him, before completely focusing on the wrist and holding out a blue-glowing hand.

Jiraiya watched in astonishment as, instead of a green healing chakra, this girl, Kagome, used a blue energy that was the complete opposite of the Kyuubi's to heal Naruto's shattered wrist.

Looking over at Itachi out of the corner of his eye, he could plainly see Itachi's rage growing at Kagome's attention towards another male. While another person may not even be able to notice that the man was actually jealous, Jiraiya had hit on enough women sought after by Uchiha males to recognize the signs when he saw them.

The Sharingan was a big giveaway, since he personally knew Itachi had a strong control over his emotions, yet it was activated. Then, there was the slight clench of his fist, and its slow, unknowing creeping towards the kunai pouch. You couldn't really count the glare, since Uchiha men - and some of the women - always seemed to be glaring no matter what the occasion. But there was no doubt now in Jiraiya's mind that Itachi had put what most would call a claim on Kagome as his girl. By the looks of it, Kagome didn't have any idea how deep this claim ran, and was going to get his pupil and a couple of other guys killed if she kept this up.

But Jiraiya had to admit that he was surprise that Itachi was this possessive over the girl. It seemed out of character for the Uchiha. He had seen the boy occasionally growing up, and knew that he had even killed his girlfriend in the massacre, and he'd never really cared if another guy had hit on her.

Again looking over at Itachi, he saw that he was about ready to kill Jiraiya's pupil, who was now healed, and was letting the girl check over his wrist as he watched Itachi for any more attacks. Well, he guessed now would be the best time to step in. He had gathered **plenty** of information from this little play date that Tsunade would want to know.

"Well," Jiraiya started out loudly to gain everyone's attention, which he promptly got. "I think it's time to get back to Naruto's training now that his wrist has had enough time to heal." Jiraiya saw Naruto getting ready to yell out. And he could understand. If it wasn't for the fact he now knew Itachi wouldn't really hurt Kagome, he wouldn't consider leaving Kagome with the rogue ninja either. But with how jealous he was over someone else just touching her shoulder, she would be more protected with Itachi than she would be with them any day. "Now, Naruto. Kagome and Itachi probably have some shopping to do. We took up enough of their time as it is," Jiraiya said, smiling, as he stepped up to Naruto. He was thankful when Kagome took a step back from his pupil. Naruto was getting ready to say something else, before Jiraiya effectively knocked him out cold with one swift hit to the back of the neck.

Kagome stood, shocked, as Naruto's sensei knocked him out cold. What was up with these people? Did they live for kidnapping and knocking each other out randomly?! Really! That was all it seemed they ever did.

"It was nice seeing you again, Itachi. Call me when you have a wedding date planned," Jiraiya said as he disappeared in a swirl of leaves with Naruto slung over his shoulder.

Kagome just stood there, trying to process the last part of what the old pervert had said. Turning a bright red, she realized that he had been talking about her and Itachi getting married. Turning away from him, she tried to cover her embarrassment with anger. This wasn't that hard once she remembered that he had shattered Naruto's wrist. She didn't have time to comment on it, though, because, as soon as she turned around, she was once again flung over Itachi's shoulder like a sack of week-old potatoes, and they appeared in a sunlight filled forest with leaves falling around them like when Jiraiya had disappeared.

Guess this was the other end of the disappearing act. It would have been great for getting to school on time if she had known this trick a year or more ago. Maybe she could get someone to teach it to her?

Itachi dropped Kagome onto the ground as soon as they were stable. To say that he was mad at her would be an understatement, but he had been able to release some of his anger by breaking the Kyuubi's vessel's wrist. Now that he was a little calmer, he knew he couldn't actually hurt her. If he messed it up again, then Bob wouldn't keep her under his control anymore, and she had plenty of experience in escaping, as she had escaped him twice now, and he had had a hard time finding her afterwards both times.

He circled Kagome, debating on how to get his revenge as she rubbed her butt, which was sore from being dropped twice today. She was scowling at him and his obvious mistreatment of her behind, but that was irrelevant. He was shocked, though, when, instead of blowing up, she started talking calmly.

"Why did you break Naruto's wrist?" she asked in a demanding tone as she stood up.

"Why did you turn my eyes pink?" he demanded in turn, giving her a stern glare.

"For you acting all high and mighty, and for revenge after you dropped me last time. I'm going to be bruised so badly now. Besides, it was only a small blow to your pride compared to what I could have done, and it's already fading fast." Kagome took a step towards him threateningly. And it was true. His eyes were turning onyx again, and the pink was quickly fading.

He matched her step as he started back at her. "You think that turning my eyes pink is only a small blow to my pride?"

She took another step forward. "Yes, there seems to be enough pride and ego in there for an army of morons, and still have then have unbelievable levels of both," Kagome spat out. Itachi steamed at her comment, but she didn't stop. "Maybe if someone deflated that oversized head of yours every once and a while, then your nose wouldn't have such a hard time getting stuck out of your hairline for everything you see, you stuck-up spoiled brat."

Itachi didn't reply to that. Instead he took out something else. "Well, maybe if you didn't try and seduce every male you see, then I wouldn't have to have broken that boy's wrist to stop him from taking advantage of you," Itachi said coldly.

Kagome faltered back a step at the insult. "I did **not** try to seduce Naruto!" Kagome yelled, stepping up to the challenge to her reputation.

"Please. You were whispering in his ear, and were already on a date with him after you gave a sob story in the market," Itachi said disbelievingly. He knew she didn't really try to seduce men, but he was mad, and attacking her reputation was the best way he knew of to get back at her at the moment. "You have men trying to court you all the time, and can never stick to one. You just tease them, and move on after you've gotten what it is you wanted. I bet that you have slept wi-"

A loud, resounding slap echoed throughout the clearing and into the surrounding forest.

Itachi stood there, shocked. She had slapped him. There she stood before him, her chest rising up and down deeply, her face showed undisguised rage over his words.

"How _dare_ you," she bit out. "How _**dare **_you even suggest that?" Kagome demanded. "Do you really believe me to be some gold-digging **slut**?" Kagome asked with cold eyes so unlike her usual warm, inviting eyes. They were icily cold-looking instead of like the warm summer sky.

Suddenly, Itachi wanted to bang his head on something hard many times for his own rash stupidity. But it was too late to take it back now. That was the problem with words. You could never really take back something once it had left your mouth. But… he would try at the moment.

Sighing deeply, Itachi ran a hand through his bangs. "Look, I didn't mean it-"

"What? Like that? Then how **did** you mean it, Itachi? You said it in everything but the direct words, that I'm a loose gold-digger who sleeps with everyone." Kagome spoke loudly, but it somehow still sounded like she had whispered it. Itachi couldn't even meet her eyes. That was what he had been knowingly and wrongly implying. Kagome opened her mouth to say something else, but an overpowering chakra was heading their way rapidly. As it overcameed them, Itachi remembered feeling a small percent of this energy when he had been fighting the Kyuubi's vessel in the hotel a year ago, and the seal had leaked a little bit of the demon's chakra. This, though, made that power level seem like a helpless newborn's grip on a fingertip compared to a giant constrictor's killing pressure slowly squeezing the life out of you.

Kagome stood there, knowing she should know this power level. But, with her emotions being twisted around like they were, she couldn't focus on it. But it wasn't supposed to be here. That much was clear, and it was someone she knew very well.

Itachi was shocked that Kagome could just stand there like that, when it took him countless battles to gain resistance to this level of chakra and murderous intent, and he was having a hard time in not being effected by it. He could feel his Sharingan activating in defense to the threat.

Itachi put on an emotionless mask as the bearer of the strange chakra came closer to them. But the chakra wasn't increasing. He could feel the it focusing on Kagome like it was searching for her, and the closer it got, the more it's holder was reeling it in. 'Who would be searching for Kagome that had this much power? Who even **had** this much power?' Itachi was snapped out of his musings when he heard Kagome whisper a name that sent warning bells off in his head.

"Sesshomaru." The name rolled easily off of Kagome's tongue as the connection came to her.

As if summoned by her call, a man with amazingly long silver hair, which shone in the light like it was a part of it, wearing white traditional clothing and gleaming armor appeared, bearing two swords, in the clearing, standing in front of them like he had been there the whole time.

Itachi felt all of the chakra focus solely on Kagome. Taking a good look at the man Kagome had called by the name of her older demon 'brother', there was no denying that this man was not human. From the stripes on his face and wrist, to the glowing golden eyes that could strike fear into the heart of any man, and the wild feeling that he gave off, he was not human. This was a true demon from one of Kagome's worlds.

Itachi wasn't expecting the man to suddenly move as if a blur, and start attacking Kagome with a sword drawn at his hip. Kagome, though, seemed to be expecting this, and quickly blocked an attack from the front with her blue chakra in the form of a sword. After a couple of parries and blocks, they broke apart, and the elegant man attacked her with a green whip like the one he had seen her use against him, except hers had been purple rather than green. But, instead of blocking with her sword, Kagome formed a blue barrier like the first time she had escaped him and Kisame. This went on for a while before the man stopped, and stared her in the eyes.

"You haven't been training." It wasn't a question, but a statement laced with disapproval.

"I've been busy," Kagome said dryly while lowering her barrier, now that the test was done.

Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes at Kagome. He could feel the turmoil in the air, and could smell how mad she had been previously, before he had entered the clearing. He looked her over from the foot up, checking for injuries. He was not happy with what he found. Right there in plain sight was an active rosary on her neck, and a recent bruise that was turning purple on her right cheek. He could feel his beast wanting to take over at the sight of a packmate harmed and placed into near-slavery. Not that he could blame his beast. He, too, was enraged over the event.

Inside of a second, Sesshomaru had Kagome's face in his hands, and was turning it from side to side, deeply inspecting it. Then, he lifted the rosary for closer inspection, mindful not to choke Kagome, since it was almost a choker on her. Carefully sniffing the rosary and Kagome's cheek, he searched for the scent that belong to someone else. He quickly found it and the owner of the scent. It wasn't that hard to locate, since Kagome was covered in the human male's scent. No, this was a descendant of a _half-breed_, which still made him lower in his books than a human, even if he had started to give his half-brother some respect and no longer was trying to kill him on sight.

Itachi didn't even have time to blink before he was slammed through five trees, breaking more ribs with each impact. Suddenly, there was a face with enraged blood-red eyes before him that belonged to the demon he had been admiring only seconds before.

'_So what's going o- OH UNHOLY CRAP!!' _Itachi heard Bob suddenly scream in his mind. '_**How did Sesshomaru get here?!**__'_ Bob yelled in a panic, just adding to Itachi's already painful headache from being slammed into five trees and counting. But Itachi didn't get to answer before he felt claws slip around his neck, halting him before he could slam into another tree, but nearly causing him a broken neck in the process.

Sesshomaru was surprised when the man's neck didn't snap, but just added pressure to slowly suffocate the man that had dared do this to a member of his pack. Then, thinking about it, he released his grip enough to let the man juest barely breathe.

"You will remove the rosary from the neck of this Sesshomaru's miko, and I will grant you a quicker death by my poison acid, instead of stripping you of your skin alive, and then melting your bones from the inside out until your body gives out from the pain," Sesshomaru demanded.

It was not a threat to take lightly, Itachi quickly decided.

**End Chapter.**

Okay, so tell me how that was. I really want to know what you all thought of this chapter. I worked really hard on this one so I really need to know how it came out. If not I will send Bob to ruin your life. This is a very serious and life threatening warning.

Probs


	12. Sesshomarus, Orochies, and Sasukes, Oh m

Okay, I know this update is **_so_** late it's not even funny. I could go on and on about all the things that kept me from posting and writing it, like the site not letting me on, getting a job, and a lot of other things, but lets face it. No one cares about the excuses so long as it's here now right?

I finally got my first flamer. The person didn't log in so I'm not sure completly who sent it but here is my reply. - Listen, I didn't make light of Kagome's past. I take that stuff seriously and if you don't even have enough guts to say I don't where I can actually reply to it to you personally, then maybe you should shut your mouth about what I do and don't take seriously. Yes, I realized a while ago that I shouldn't have let Kagome forgive Itachi so easily, but I also had Itachi help her and apoligize for his actions. He started to try and get Kagome's forgiveness when he started taking care of her in her mental state. Kagome is a very forgiving person and her uncle helped her recover a lot from her past so it would be possible in my opinion for her to fogive Itachi. And incase you didn't notice if you wanted to get into the realisically type stuff, then it's not very realistic for a girl to travel through time in a well of all things, or for ninja's to be able to perform jutsus for that matter. I'm not making you read my story so if you don't like it then don't read it.

And I'm sorry for not replying to everyone's reviews this time. Life has been hectic so I apoligize for that. To make up for it I hope that you guys all enjoy this chapter.

Disclaimer: I own Bob and the plot, though if I keep renting Bob out I think someone might not give him back...Is this a bad thing or not?

**Chapter Twelve: Sesshomarus, Orochies, and Sasukes, Oh my!**

Kagome could only stand there, shocked, as Sesshomaru disappeared from her line of vision, and she heard trees snapping the next second. Sharply turning to the sound, Kagome was just in time to see Itachi's body go smashing through the last tree before Sesshomaru blurred in front of him, grabbing him by the neck. She winced as she waited to hear the snap that was sure to follow, but was shocked when no such sound came.

"You will remove the rosary from this Sesshomaru's miko's neck," Kagome heard Sesshomaru give his demand before the threat. "And I will grant you a quicker death by my poison acid instead of stripping you of your skin alive, and then melting your bones from the inside out until your body gives out from the pain," Sesshomaru finished, letting a slight bit of the acid from his claws leak out and start eating away the skin of Itachi's neck.

Kagome stood there, not knowing what to do. While she didn't want Itachi to be killed even after what he said, she also wanted the rosary off and to be able to return to the feudal era with Sesshomaru. Biting her lip in indecision, Kagome knew she couldn't let just sit by and watch Itachi get killed.

"Sessho-" Kagome started to stop him, but her voice was overlapped by someone else's.

"Well, well, I never thought I would see this day." Everyone's heads turned towards the voice, and Sesshomaru loosened his grip enough that he wouldn't kill Itachi while hearing out the new arrival.

There, standing on a tree branch, were two people. The one who had spoken had the palest skin Kagome had ever seen; even Sesshomaru's skin wasn't as fair. The man's hair - at least, Kagome thought it was a man from his flat chest - was pitch black and straighter then a piece of paper. His eyes were extremely slanted and were a gold-green color. But, overall, he gave Kagome the distinct feeling of a snake waiting in the grass. With all the makeup he wore, he looked like a cross-dresser as well.

Standing slightly behind the possible cross-dresser was someone she had to do a double-take on. He was, no joke, a younger Itachi without worry lines. He was wearing the same get-up as the snake-man, leaving Kagome wondering how they both managed to stand while wearing that large of a bow made of that thick of rope. Then her eyes met the young man's red eyes, which were slightly different then Itachi's. Kagome stared at the younger man for a while, not believing what she was seeing.

Sasuke looked smugly down at the woman who his brother had been seen with so much lately. So the rumors were true; Itachi had found himself a woman. While she wasn't the best-looking out there, she did closely resemble an Uchiha with her slightly sun-kissed fair skin and blue-tinted black hair that shone with the slightest glimpse of light. But - the Uchiha frowned mentally - she didn't look much like a fighter. He looked closely at how she was standing. While, at first glance, she looked like an average civilian girl, if you looked closely enough at her legs you could see the muscle and barely noticeable scares that were healing nicely. This girl had definitely seen battles. He was snapped out of his musings when he heard an attempted muted laugh. The girl had her hand coving her mouth while she was trying to suppress her laughter.

Orochimaru looked over at the girl who traveled with Itachi and was now trying to suppress her laughter. "What, may I ask, do you find so funny, young lady?" Orochimaru asked, raising a brow. The girl tried waving it off, but both Sasuke and Orochimaru were curious now.

Kagome waved the question off as nothing, hoping that the cross-dresser and mini-Itachi would go back to ignoring her; well, the former had, for the most part, been ignoring her. He had looked her over for a second or two, and then went back to watching Sesshomaru. The mini-Itachi had been shifting from glaring at Itachi with a burning hate to looking smugly at her in a way that reminded her of Kouga, but without the boyish charm that made it seem harmless. It was starting to freak her out a little. That was, until she noticed it. She was quickly taken by surprise when the boy disappeared, and she felt someone's arms around her waist, pulling her back into a broad, well-framed chest, and felt hot breath tickling on her neck.

"What's so funny?" the boy asked in a naturally seductive voice. Kagome jumped from the unexpected contact but the boy had a grip that rivaled Itachi's on her.

As the boy continued to breathe down her neck, Kagome's blush rose to new degrees. Kagome stumbled to say something. "I,..Um,..I…"

"Go on," he whispered in her ear, and started to play with a strand of her hair. Him playing with her hair didn't help Kagome with her focus any, as he twirled and wrapped her hair around his finger.

Kagome mumbled something Sasuke couldn't quite catch. So he asked her to repeat it louder. "Your _hair_," Kagome said, loud and clear this time, praying that he would back up a little bit to let her think more clearly. With him breathing on her neck, and having her pressed up against him, and his hand was slipping down, down… whoa, whoa, whoa, she was _**so**_ not going to let him touch her there!

"Your _**hair**_," Kagome grounded out for the third time. "It reminds me of a fat chicken's butt that caught on fire." Kagome felt Sasuke's grip loosen in surprise, and she quickly reacted by turning around and kneeing him in the groin.

Kagome stepped back and watched Sasuke topple like a deck of cards in the wind, cursing and glaring at Kagome the whole way down.

"Serves you right, you pervert," Kagome mumbled while walking towards Sesshomaru, wanting to distance herself from him as quickly as possible.

Sesshomaru was glaring at the man who smelt of snake. He didn't know why this... snake half-breed descendant… had interrupted his business, but if he didn't leave soon, he would die quickly. Sesshomaru had no time for worthless cross-breeds.

"Snake," Sesshomaru addressed the man still standing in the tree who occasionally glanced at Kagome, who was now at Sesshomaru's side. "Leave now, and your interruption will be excused for the time being." There was no emotion in Sesshomaru's voice as he said this and turned his attention back to Itachi. Narrowing his eyes when he felt something was wrong, he studied Itachi's bang-covered face closely. For the briefest of seconds, there was a smirk on Itachi face, before it disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. Sesshomaru's eyes widened as he heard the air splitting behind his back, and the person he had just been holding by their neck turn into a pile of leaves.

Throwing the leaves away, Sesshomaru moved quickly out of the way of the oncoming kunai. Following the path the kunai came from, he quickly located the perpetrator.

Itachi's eyes widened as Sesshomaru's acid whip cut through the branch that he had been hiding out on. Pushing off the falling tree limb, making it fall faster, he jumped through the trees while keeping a close eye on Sesshomaru, Orochimaru, and his little brother Sasuke's whereabouts.

He was a little bit shocked to see that the rumor that Sasuke had teamed up with Orochimaru was true, but quickly accepted it, even if he was disappointed with his choice in teacher. He had expected better of his little brother. He would have to do something about that soon; Orochimaru wasn't someone you wanted close, even as an enemy. Kagome would be safe with her older brother protecting her for a moment while he ran around trying to think of a plan. Bob still wouldn't shut the heck up. He kept screaming about how they were going to die.

Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes in annoyance as he saw Itachi going through the trees at a faster pace then any human should be able to. Even with his diluted demon blood, he shouldn't be able to move that fast, or be able to even tap his demon energy to be able to perform that spell he had used. Perhaps he had underestimated the mixed-breed, but that was of little consequence. He would bleed all the same.

"Kagome." Sesshomaru called her attention. "I want you to stay here under a shield while I go take care of this pest," Sesshomaru told her as he got ready to go kill Itachi.

Kagome's eyes widened. "Wait! Sesshomaru!" she cried in panic. Sesshomaru looked at her from over his shoulder. Knowing she had his attention, she said what she needed. "Please, don't kill Itachi. He has a reason." She briefly looked up at the two other ninjas still in the clearing. Knowing that Itachi wouldn't be very happy if she let his weakness out, she hoped that Sesshomaru wouldn't ask questions while they were here.

Orochimaru watched as the two conversed on the ground below him with interest. It was by luck alone that they had even run into Itachi and the rest of them. He and Sasuke had been on their way to try and gather information concerning the girl in the clearing below, when they had felt a large amount of energy they had decided to check out.

And behold what they had stumbled upon: Itachi being held by his neck by a red eyed… well, he wasn't quiet sure what he could call the male down in the clearing; he clearly wasn't human.

He had also found the woman who had supposedly been traveling with Itachi and had the strange powers. He didn't focus too much on her knowing that Sasuke would study her while he found out about the male. He was shocked that Sasuke was behaving so well with Itachi just right there, but he put it off on the fact that he was trying to keep his cool until he could gain the girl's trust. Bemusedly, Orochimaru recalled how well _that_ had worked out. The girl was defiantly spirited. They would have to break that later, but, for now, it was a good source of entertainment. The Uchiha was too haughty for his own good.

He knew there was no chance of the male being human when he was addressed as a snake - unless he knew who he was. He had been given a warning to leave, but wasn't going to heed it just yet. He still wanted to know what was going on. The longer he stayed, the more questions were raised. It was obvious that the girl was on close terms with the male, but he was still trying to kill Itachi, who, according to his underling, was supposed to care deeply for the girl. What was going on here?

Sesshomaru looked at where Kagome was glancing at from the corner of her eye. It was obvious that she didn't want to talk about it in the presence of those two mix breeds. "We will talk about this later."

"Sesshomaru," Kagome started in a warning tone.

Sesshomaru merely raised an eyebrow. He knew what she wanted, but wasn't sure if he wanted to follow it just yet. But he would wait for answers before he killed the whelp. "I shall not kill him before he has time to explain himself."

Knowing this was the best answer she would get, Kagome nodded sharply once before raising a shield over herself in case the two new ninjas decided to randomly attack her once Sesshomaru was gone. They seem to like randomly attacking her, so she wasn't going to take any chances.

Sesshomaru nodded in approval at the strong barrier before disappearing in a blur. He was going to find Itachi and _hopefully_ bring him back in one intact, non-melted, non-disabled piece.

Kagome sat down in her barrier, thinking over all the possible things that could go wrong with Sesshomaru 'retrieving' Itachi. Suddenly, she started to giggle a little thinking of Itachi coming back soaking wet with drool in Sesshomaru's mouth. Then she thought about what would happen if he really **did** retrieve Itachi like that. Those giant teeth pressing down, tearing through vital organs, and the acid drool eating away at his skin. Kagome's hands slapped to the sides of her face and started to slowly pull skin down as she let them drop. Why had she trusted Sesshomaru to go get Itachi?! Those two would kill each other any chance they got!

Orochimaru and Sasuke watched with interest as the young woman had erected a purple barrier around herself before going through a series of expressions in a matter of seconds, finally settling on a strange eye twitch.

Wanting to see her power better for himself, Orochimaru jumped down from his perch on the tree branch, and walked over to the barrier with confidence in his steps. After a few feet of walking, Sasuke fell into step beside him.

Kagome stopped her mental panic when she heard footsteps approaching her. Looking over where the sounds where coming from, she saw the cross-dresser and his follower strolling over to her barrier, brimming with a confidence that could make a cat jealous.

"Your name is Kagome, right?" the apparent leader asked her before he came to a stop a foot in front of her barrier. Kagome's eye twitched. The last cross-dresser she had to deal with a lot had been a psycho killer obsessed with Inuyasha's ears. While she could understand that Inuyasha's ears were very adorable and all that, that guy had been more then a little off his rocker. Something told her this guy would be, too.

Not in the least bit put off at her lack of response, he continued. "I've heard that you're Itachi's new woman."

Kagome felt like someone had just unexpectedly slapped her with a dead fish out of nowhere. She SO didn't know where that came from, and fully let it show on her face for a second before she found her voice.

"WHaT?!" her voice cracked. "Who the crap is saying that?!!" Kagome screamed in shock. Really?! She knew Itachi said that he _owned_ her, but that didn't mean that she was his new woman! "Why would I want to pair up with that emotionless, stuck-up jerk?!" Kagome ranted, remembering what Itachi had called her only minutes before in the clearing.

Orochimaru took a step back in surprise. Apparently, they weren't as close as his informant told. But they clearly had _some_ type of bond. And his informant was right about her strange chakra.

"Oh?" Orochimaru asked, letting his voice show some of his surprise. "So what is your relationship if you two aren't lovers?" he asked, tilting his head to the side and causing his black hair to cascade down his shoulder.

Kagome narrowed her eyes at him "Why do you want to know? I don't believe that you have any right to the information; it's kind of a personal matter that doesn't concern you. But if it clears things up then, no, I'm not his woman," Kagome said coldly.

Orochimaru just smiled at her, and shifted his hips so he could rest one hand on his hip, before answering. "So you're just a play-toy?"

Kagome started to gag. "NO! Why the crap would you think that?!" Kagome demanded.

Orochimaru smirked at her. "Word is out that Itachi isn't gay, and is enjoying the company of a woman seen freely traveling with him and his partner."

"I wouldn't be to sure about that. I'm pretty sure that Itachi and Kisame have something going on between them. Itachi could very well be gay," Kagome said, wanting to make Itachi look gay just to get the topic off of her and Itachi supposedly being together.

"Woman," Sasuke demand her attention to him. When Kagome was looking at him, he continued. "You _will_ tell me exactly what your relationship with Itachi is, or I will kill you," he said while glaring.

Kagome's eye twitched. Itachi and this dude _had_ to be cousins or something. "Why would I tell a pervert like you anything? You can't get past this barrier, so you can't kill me," Kagome explained the last part before sticking her tongue out at him, and crossing her arms stubbornly.

Sasuke resisted the urge to try and break down the barrier right then and there so he could cut off the tongue she was pointing in his direction.

Was this REALLY the girl that his older brother traveled with? Surely this had to be some trick.

Kagome stopped making fun of Sasuke long enough to get a really good close-up look at him.

"Hey, you look a lot like Itachi; are you guys cousins or something?" she asked curiously.

Sasuke's eye twitched a little. He hated being compared to Itachi, but wasn't it obvious that they were brothers?

"Wait a second! I KNOW YOU!!" Kagome said loudly in disbelief.

Sasuke's ego puffed up a little bit at that. He knew he was well-known, and it was about time for her to get the connection.

"You're that boy that kid Naruto was looking for. Sasuki or something. You're the Itachi clone!" Kagome's expression showed shock as she realized that if you made him a little older, it would be the same kid.

Sasuke's brow started to twitch with his eye. The dobe had already met this girl? That stupid dobe was still looking for him? Didn't he know he was wasting his time?

"You HAVE to be related to that stuck up prick Itachi. I mean," Kagome gestured with her hands in his direction to make her point, "you both have that spoiled brat attitude, you both look very similar, even if your hair style does resemble a chicken's butt - but he has a worse messed up fashion sense, so that evens out - and you both even have that same eye twitch. You HAVE to be related," she stated.

Sasuke gave up trying to keep his cool, and launched himself at her barrier, kunai ready. Orochimaru's eyes widened as, not only did Sasuke get repelled, but burnt as well.

"Well, well, well. That is a **very** nifty trick there. I don't believe that I have ever seen that happen before." Orochimaru started to walk around the purple barrier, making Kagome very nervous. Every once and a while, he would tap the barrier, making it ripple a little like a pond's still water, but nothing big. Then, he would pull his hand away to see it burnt slightly where he had touched the barrier, and smirk.

Kagome started to shift from leg to leg nervously. She didn't like how this man was acting. He reminded her way too much of Jakotsu for her liking.

"So how DO you do this little trick here?" Orochimaru asked her, a sly tone in his voice.

"Um, you kind of have to be born with the talent. I doubt you could do it, and it's not really that interesting." Kagome tried to get him to lose interest in it, but it backfired when he perked up, and showed even more interest than before.

"You don't say?" he asked, for all intents sounding like how a snake would if it could speak like a human. "I think that with your 'help', I could find a way to make such a pretty barrier like you can," he said, sounding sure of himself.

"No, I'm pretty sure that if you wanted one just like mine, it would kill you. Mix breeds don't do so well with this type of 'chakra'," she said, using the word that Itachi and Kisame often used to explain a power source.

"And why would that be, my dear?" he asked, chuckling a bit.

"They're opposite energies, and will kill each other off, so I really don't think that you should be trying to learn this. Might be bad for your health, you know?" Kagome said, trying to convince him of it.

Orochimaru looked up from his barrier examinations, and smirked at her. "Opposite energies, you say? I don't believe that I've ever come across that before. You would be willing to help me out, now, wouldn't you? It would be for the good of science," he said like that was all that mattered.

Kagome cringed, thinking of all the things that were done 'for the good of science'. Hitler had gassed and killed millions 'for the good of science.' No, Kagome didn't think that she much cared for science.

"If you are willing to help me out, I'll help you out. I can give you anything you want. Money, power, a new face, these are all very easy to get with my help," Orochimaru offered.

Kagome glared heavily at Orochimaru. Was this guy trying to hint that she wasn't good looking or something? "I'm fine with my own face, thank you very much! And I can get any of those other things without your help, so just leave before I call my brother to come and use you both as a chew toy," Kagome threatened, her hands clenching into fists.

Orochimaru just made a clicking sound in disapproval, like a parent lightly disapproving their child. "Now, now, no need to get so angry. What is it that you most want, then? I promise you that I can give you anything that you desire," Orochimaru promised.

"I highly doubt that," Kagome said dryly.

"And why is that?" he asked, frowning for the first time while talking to her.

"Unless you know how to kill four disembodied spirits combined into one that is out to ruin my life in every possible way, then I highly doubt you can give me anything that I want." Kagome smirked at him, knowing that she had won this round.

Orochimaru and Sasuke scrunched their brows together, trying to understand what she meant. Sasuke walked up to the barrier again, but didn't touch it this time. Tapping it with his kunai, he saw sparks fly off from the contact. Frowning at it, he covered his hand with chakra, and started to reach forward with it. He knew Orochimaru was watching him do it, but he didn't care. He had to see for himself what was so special about this girl - and her chakra - to know why she was allowed anywhere near his brother. From her reaction, he doubted that those two were lovers, so his original plan had gone out of the window. He needed to find out if he could use this girl at all in his plans, or if she would get in the way.

Placing his hand up against the barrier, he had to quickly pull it off, screaming, as the barrier sent searing pain up his arm. It felt like someone had started ripping it to shreds from the inside out, attacking everything it could. And, even away from the barrier, the pain kept going.

Kagome spun around on her heel to see what the commotion was about, and saw Sasuke's arm starting to get purified off. "You _IDIOT_!" she screamed at him as she lowered her barrier, and ran over to him.

Dropping to her knees in front of Sasuke's withering form, she quickly checked to see how far the damage had gone. What he had done was stupid. Her miko energy kills demon energy, or what they call 'chakra', and loading your hand full of it then shoving into a human-harming, miko-charged barrier wasn't all that smart. It was suicidal is what it was.

All Sasuke could feel was the intense pain in his arm. The pain was unbearable! How had that witch done this to him?! He was going to kill her when this was over! Sasuke opened his eyes enough to see Kagome rushing over to him, and attempted to glare at her. But the effect was ruined by the fact that he couldn't keep his eyes opened due to the pain. "Get away from me, witch!" he yelled, letting out some of his pain with it.

Kagome's eyes narrowed. She was trying to help the ungrateful brat, and he goes and calls her a witch! Kagome placed a hand on Sasuke's arm, only for him to let out a scream, and take a wild swing at her with his free arm. Kagome narrowly missed the blow aimed at her head, and glared at Sasuke. When he started for another swing, Kagome slapped his face. Hard. It seemed like it was her job to slap these people. They were all so unreasonable.

"Shut up, and stop trying to hit me, you ungrateful idiot!" Kagome yelled at him as he was stunned for a second from the slap. "I'm trying to stop the purification!"

Sasuke couldn't believe it. That woman had slapped him….she had actually slapped him. Sasuke ignored the pain long enough to hear the end of what she was saying. Apparently, she was trying to stop the pain. Grinding his teeth together, Sasuke tried to stay still, and stopped trying to hit her.

Kagome saw that the boy had stopped trying to hit her, and was trying to hold still. Kagome immediately filled her hands up with healing energy, and gripped Sasuke's arm. She first had to block the purification that he had so foolishly plunged his hand into, and then she focused on healing it.

Sasuke let out a shaky sigh of relief as the pain slowed down, and changed to a pain as if his arm had been seriously burned. Sasuke heard the woman talking to him in smoothing tones. But it didn't help that she was saying how much on an idiot he was.

"You know," Kagome began, talking lowly as she focused on healing Sasuke's arm. "You really are as much of an idiot as Itachi is. Both big morons that need to be slapped every now and then so you stop your stupid 'I'm tuff' pissing contest long enough to notice someone is trying to help you. Morons. Must be a family thing," Kagome said, thinking that Sasuke could just hear her tone and not what she was saying.

Kagome looked down at Sasuke's arm and noticed that it was almost all the way healed. Not wanting to use up more energy than need be, she stopped the healing. "Well, I'll let you heal the rest of the way naturally. It'll take twice as long as normal to heal, but maybe you'll learn not to put you hands where they don't belong," Kagome said, then glared. "In more ways then one," she added, thinking of earlier.

Sasuke looked up, and glared at her. She could heal it the rest of the way, but refused to. But, then again, he guessed he should be thankful that she had even healed it as far as she had. So, nodding at her, he began to stand up. He was slightly shocked as she started to help him up, and was about to shove her help off before remembering what she could do. It would be better to stay on her good side than go through that again.

"Thank you," Sasuke said stiffly. It wasn't often that he had to say it, but this case called for it. He looked over to see her smiling at him.

"Think nothing of it. Now, I really need to go find Sesshomaru and Itachi before Sesshomaru starts using him as a chew toy," Kagome said before letting go of Sasuke, and dusting off her hands. Turning in the direction that Sesshomaru left in, she saw Orochimaru was standing in her way. Taking a step to the side to pass him, she narrowed her eyes when he did so as well.

**With Sesshomaru and Itachi**

Sesshomaru had been shocked at the crossbreed's speed, but it was still no match for his. He soon found the man standing in the middle of a clearing, glaring at him. Stupid crossbreed.

Walking forward with purposeful arrogance, Sesshomaru came to stand fifteen feet in front of the man. Wind blew, playing with both of their hair as they glared each other down, and looked for weaknesses in the other. Sesshomaru saw the damage that he had already dealt as the man ever so slightly bent from the pain in his rib cage. And there was a ring of purple around the man's neck from where he had been choking him earlier.

After a minute passed, Sesshomaru finally spoke. "You will explain why a member of my pack is wearing a rosary tied to you," Sesshomaru demanded. He had promised Kagome he wouldn't kill the crossbreed before he could explain himself, and he was a demon of his word.

Itachi kept glaring at the man standing across from him. What was he supposed to say? That he needed her to heal his eyes so he makes her do everything thing he says? He doubted that would go over to well.

"I require the miko's help with something. The only way to ensure that she wouldn't leave before I had gotten what I needed was to find a way to tie her to me," Itachi explained the main points without going into detail.

Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes slightly. "What is it that you require of her?"

Itachi was silent for a moment before he spoke. "Without Kagome's healing powers, I will go blind."

Sesshomaru raised a brow at this answer. It was a pretty sound reason, but he still chose the wrong pack to take a member from, and what he did could not go unnoticed.

"Do you have any last words, mix-breed?" Sesshomaru asked, letting green acid slip from his claws.

"_Say that you wish to court the miko!_" Bob practically screamed in his mind. "_That's the __only__ way he won't kill you!_"

'He wouldn't be able to kill me,' Itachi denied.

"_Sesshomaru can make that nine-tails look like a new feisty kitten compared to him! He WILL kill you!_" Bob screamed at Itachi's idiocy.

Taking a good look at Sesshomaru's power level, he wouldn't say it was that much of an overestimate. This demon was insanely strong, and he doubted that, even if he pulled out all his tricks and attacks, he would be able to kill him and come out alive. And, judging from the grass dying when the green goop fell of his claws, they were laced with acid.

"I wish to court the miko Kagome," Itachi said boldly, standing as straight as his broken ribs would allow. He watched Sesshomaru's eyes widen a little at the declaration before a tint of pink entered them.

"_But you know I've been wrong before. That could have just ticked him off even more. I will always remember you fondly._" Bob said the last part in reverence.

Before Itachi even knew what had hit him or had time to respond to Bob's comment, he was face first in the dirt with Sesshomaru's foot pressing on his broken ribs.

"And _what,_" Sesshomaru growled out, "makes you think that you are _worthy_ of being Kagome's **mate**?" He added pressure to his foot on Itachi's ribs, making Itachi have to bite back a scream of pain. "When you, a lowly worm that's doesn't deserve the title of mutt, has chained her into slavery?"

"_Demand the right to evoke a mate duel!"_ Bob said, without screaming this time, but still with much panic lacing his loud voice.

'Look where listening to you has gotten me so far!' Itachi directed the remark towards Bob.

"_Just say it!_" Bob demanded.

"I, Itachi Uchiha, demand the right to evoke the right of a mate duel., Itachi immediately felt Sesshomaru get off him. Itachi stood up, and looked the regal demon glaring at him a couple of feet away.

"What are your terms?" Sesshomaru demanded.

Itachi could hear Bob shouting out in joy that it had worked. Itachi felt his brow tick. The Jewel hadn't even known if it would work or not?

'Bob! What do I do now that I've demanded this duel?" Itachi asked ticked.

Bob immediately quieted down. "_Well, you two could have a fight to the death, a game of wits, first blood draw, just any thing that there would be one male proving he could protect and provide for the female in question. Then, depending if you won, the alpha of the pack will have to give the right to court over to you,_" Bob said. "_AND he can't kill you for keeping Kagome with you._"

Itachi thought it over for a couple seconds before he answered. "If I can cut you before five minutes are up, then I win. We cannot leave this clearing."

Sesshomaru smirked. There was no way that a mere mutt-blood like this human before him could cut him, despite his demon blood and sorcery. "Agreed. But, while you try to do that, I will kill you."

"_We're dead,_" Bob said in helpless defeat. "_Well, you are,_" Bob corrected himself. Bob felt Itachi's anger, and knew it was time to shut up.

Itachi was expecting that Sesshomaru was going to try and kill him, and got ready to attack by activating his Sharingan, and placing one hand on his kunai pouch, the other on the hilt of his sword strapped to his back.

Sesshomaru did wait another second, and then immediately blurred in front of Itachi, sword drawn, going for Itachi's gut. It was blocked by Itachi's own sword, which he then pushed off Sesshomaru's blade, and made a swipe for Sesshomaru's chest.

**End Chapter**

Alright, as much as I know everyone is going to hate hearing it, I don't know when the next time I can update is. But I assure you it won't be nearly as long of a wait as this was. Once again I apoligize for the wait.

1 Kagome with 36 votes

2 Itachi with 24 votes

3 XD BOB WITH 19 VOTES! XD

4 Kisame with 15 votes

5 Deidara with 13 votes

6 Pein with 5 votes

7 Sasori with 4 votes

8 other with a wopping 1 vote

9 and last was Konan, . no one really seemed to vote for her.

Okay, there are the results and I would like to thank everyone who voted. So this chapter is dedicated to you guys. And I am putting a new poll up so feel free to vote in that one to. ^^

~Probs


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